


Tales of Tianna

by TantrumTariff



Category: Exalted (Roleplaying Game)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:40:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 22,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28153248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TantrumTariff/pseuds/TantrumTariff
Summary: A collection of stories written for Exalted Quest, a play by post interactive story set in the world of Exalted.





	1. Chapter 1


    **Somewhere in the Underworld**  
      
     My head was filled with a haze of memories, flitting between achingly familiar and terrifyingly alien.
    
    I remembered an interrupted feast with my peers.
    
    I remembered my servants leading my down a hallway, the sounds of soldiers close behind.
    
    I remembered my souls being cut down by shining warriors of light.
    
    I saw my elemental soldiers bar my way.
    
    I heard the firewand pistol being fired
    
    I felt their blades pierce my immortal essence.
    
    I was betrayed.
    
    I was killed.
    
    I died.
    
    The scenery when I opened my eyes didn't do much to dissuade me of that notion, the unnatural chill, the bleak atmosphere, and black barren ground could only belong to the Underworld. Probably, it's not like I had ever seen it in person, but I suppose the ghost staring down at me helped some.
    
    "Your Majesty." it spoke in an eerie rasping voice that could only come from a throat without flesh.
    
    I responded with a dignified jump and shriek. It was a move I hadn't been able to do in a long time, a spinning kick from the ground meant to get me back on my feet and force the ghost back, what happened was I split the ghost in half from pelvis to head and launched myself up a dozen feet.
    
    If I hadn't been in the air I would have fallen over myself. I moved with a grace and strength I hadn't felt since I was a teen, no I felt more alive than I ever had before I died.
    
    Landing softly on the ground I realized for the first time I could breathe without pain. Looking down at myself I saw I had on the same clothes I had when everything happened. A hole in the center of my dress showed where the firewand shot hit me and the accompanying scar on the flesh beneath. It was a nasty thing red against my flesh, which I noticed had taken on an almost lifeless shade of grey, like spent ash.
    
    "Your Highness please."
    
    Another similar voice came from behind me. Spinning around I saw a ghost like before, covered in rags with only it's hands exposed, mummified and bone thin. It floated a ways behind me, with its hands spread open in a sign of peace.
    
    "I mean no harm, quite the opposite in fact." It said with a hurried attempt at peace, likely having seen what I had done to it's partner.
    
    "And what do you want from me?" I spoke for the first time, "aren't I suppose to go haunt my murderer now that I've been killed?"
    
    "If revenge is what you want, then you'll want to hear what I have to say all the more," I could feel it smile underneath it's hood. "but death is something you don't need to worry about for a while longer."
    
    "What are you talking about." I demanded, feeling stronger with every passing moment.
    
    "You're not dead yet, merely hanging on the brink."
    
    "I, didn't die?" My breath caught in my throat as I felt my heart beat in my chest, confirming my own words.
    
    The ghost bowed it's head, "My masters found you as you lay at the edge and sympathized with your plight, so they offered you a choice."
    
    I remembered it now with stunning clarity, a chance to take revenge, to save my children, to live again.
    
    "I was sent to retrieve you from your, initiation so to speak, and to bring you to my master to begin your instruction so that you may have your revenge."
    
    "What about my family, my children and my husband?" I thought back to the coup, it happened so suddenly I couldn't imagine them escaping unscathed.
    
    "I'm afraid to say that you are the only one my masters reached," it said apologetically "I could not say what became of them."
    
    My new scar burned with those words, anger fueling my new strength.
    
    "I need to find them, they have to be alive."
    
    It gestured behind itself, to a glossy black carriage tied to a pair of skeletal beasts.
    
    "By your leave then, my Queen of Ash and Dust."


	2. Somewhere in a mad civil engineer's workshop


    An absolute disaster was the only way to describe the scene in front of Leah. Valeriana's temporary workshop was a mess of papers, clay models, and discarded writing tools. Set up under a surviving basement, her workshop was her base for the reconstruction of Tianna.
    
    "Miss Kava are you here?" he called out to the mostly dark room as he stepped inside, plate of food in hand "I've brought you lunch."
    
    In the very back of the room sat Valeriana with her hair tied back in a messy bun, bags under her eyes, and a near manic smile as she muttered ideas to herself and jotted down notations and street placements with her ink covered fingers in perfect straight lines and penmanship.
    
    That was how Leah found her, exactly as he had every time he ventured down.
    
    "Oh Leah, hello," she said absentmindedly touching her stomach, leaving another ink-stain on her work apron, as if she had only now noticed her hunger "is it lunch time already?"
    
    "Yes Miss Kava, have you eaten at all today?" Leah asked worriedly, lighting the surrounding candles and lanterns.
    
    "Of course I have, you brought me that plate of cookies just a little bit ago didn't you?" Valeriana said, still not looking up from her designs.
    
    "That was yesterday miss."
    
    "What about the tea you brought me this morning?" she asked confused.
    
    "That was the day before and tea doesn't count as a meal." he said with a note of finality as he moved the blueprints and placed the plate of sandwiches down in front of her "I'll have something more substantial brought down later, but for now at least eat this."
    
    Valeriana looked at the sandwiches with a hint of annoyance, her ire directed at the fact that she had to eat rather than at Leah for interrupting her.
    
    "One day I'll learn that Charm that Maka knows and I won't have to eat ever again." she grumbled as she reached to grab a sandwich, before she realized something.
    
    "Leah?"
    
    "Oh yes," he said looking at her dirty hands "let me find a rag or something to clean your hands with."
    
    "That's fine, just feed me."
    
    He stopped as his brain tried to process what she was asking him, turning around he saw her waiting expectantly with her mouth open and tongue slightly out.
    
    He looked down for a long moment before finally turning away.
    
    "Let me find a rag," he said "I don't think I could look Master Zaan in the eye if I did that."
    
    Valeriana shrugged and leaned over to bite the sandwich directly from the plate.
    
    "Why would Zaan mind?"
    
    "Let's say it's for my own peace of mind."
    
    After a minute of searching the piles of clutter he came back to Valeriana with cloth in hand. Handing it to her he sat down at the table looking at the designs he pulled away from her. The port city drawn by the bay looked like Tianna at first glance, but the more he examined the papers the more he noticed the differences.
    
    The city's port was redesigned and expanded to accommodate new ships, both in size and number, the streets were rearranged to take into account the new road out West leading to Pearl, whole districts that had been damaged in the attack were shuffled around, repaired, improved, and even removed where necessary. Even the place where Tianna Castle once stood was replaced by a grander looking building with a note referencing more sheets of papers.
    
    "Did you do this all by yourself?" he asked her a little taken back, this was a massive amount of work and done so meticulously. Each street was drawn and measured exactly, houses placed with notes on the angle of the sun at any time of day and more on the city's natural Geomancy.
    
    "Not all by myself, Mikahil has been working with me with some ideas he had about how to improve trade flow within Tianna and with Pearl once it's up and running," she said nonchalantly as she picked at her sandwich "did you put mayo in this?"
    
    "I didn't make it myself." He said quietly still looking over the papers, it was moments like this that reminded him of the old stories he had heard of the Anathema and their ancient cities. He felt a shiver up his spine as he imagined his home becoming one of those thanks to a supposed Anathema.
    
    A girlish screamed distracted him from his fantasy as he turned to see Valeriana leaning over with mayonnaise dripping from her mouth and hand, tears in her eyes.
    
    "It did have extra mayo."
    
    And then Zaan came in.


	3. Somewhere in a Dawn caste's dreams.


    The ship lurched under me as the waves tossed it up and down, the rain and wind trying it's best to sink my small ship, a gift from a very appreciative and busty group of maidens I risked life and limb to save. 
    
    Now it was all I could do to keep from capsizing under the fury of a jealous and temperamental, but beautiful  Storm Mother. Tall, voluptuous, and beautiful with golden hair streaming down her back any man would give his life to serve her, maybe that's why she thought I wanted the same after I saved her from a rampaging fae behemoth. I never meant to trick her, but a thousand years as a prized consort wasn't the kind of reward I expected from her. That was the kind of thing that got in the way of woo-ing maidens and saving kingdoms.
    
    "If I can't have you, then no one can!" screamed Thalassa as she threw bolts of lightning and cutting winds at me.
    
    As good a sailor as I was, my ship couldn't take much more of this and yet I couldn't bring myself to raise my blade against her.
    
    "Thal you have to understand," I pleaded with her, raising my voice above the crack of thunder letting the wind toss my hair back "I didn't mean to trick you, but I can't stay, Creation needs my help."
    
    "You see, he never loved you, he was only using you," an evil voice piercing through the storm said.
    
    A Soulsteel-encased figure atop a menacing ship appeared from the darkness. The Abyssal known as Corpses on the Gallows pulled out her great cursed bow and took aim. 
    
    "Just like he used me."
    
    A volley of arrows came at me like the Thal's own rain. A gold flash of Essence and a swing of my Grand Daiklave was all it took to cut down both.
    
    "No Gal, I saved you from that monster you called a master," I said staring at her tear-filled eyes "but you never really needed it, you were strong enough to stand on your own."
    
    Tears fell down her cheeks from the sincerity of my words, overcome with emotion she paused her attack for a fatal second. One Thalassa took perfect advantage of.
    
    "You tricked me, you only wanted him for yourself!" she exploded into a rage and she sent the largest bolt of lightning yet at the defenseless woman.
    
    "NO!" I yelled, jumping into the path of the bolt, feeling it smash into my armor and utterly destroying it.
    
    The lightning went coursing into my nerves, forcing a howl of pain from my lips before I must have passed out.
    
    When I opened my eyes again, I was looking at the most beautiful sight in the world.
    
    Thal and Gal side-by-side looking down crying their hearts out.
    
    "I'm so sorry Karas." "No Karas, not when you taught me to love again."
    
    Reaching up I placed my hands on their cheeks.
    
    "No tears just yet girls, it'll take more than that to take me down." I said with a smile.
    
    "Oh Karas," they said together as they leaned down together, ready to show how happy they were with me.
    
    "Wake up..."
    
    "What?" I said off balance, this wasn't what they were suppose to say.
    
    "I said, WAKE UP!" a shrill girlish voice screamed into my ear.
    
    Karas woke up with a start, the Library of Tianna's hardback copy of "The Thousand Correct Actions of the Upright Soldier" stuck to his face as he pitched backwards onto the floor.
    
    "Bwuh?" he said smartly.
    
    "You were late for training again," the real Thalassa said above him tapping her foot impatiently. 
    
    Short, flat, and with a pair of blonde twintails framing her scowling face, she had little in common with the curvy Goddess from his dream.
    
    "And you were sleep talking, Storm Mothers are a lot of things, but beautiful is never one of them," she said stabbing at him with her wooden practice sword "now come on, you promised you would teach me that move from yesterday."
    
    Looking up at the table full of military stratagems and history he remembered trying to read he groaned as he peeled the book off his face. He hadn't even made a dent in his self-appointed homework.
    
    "Anything to get out of here." He said getting up from the floor to follow Thal out of the library.
    
    "Wait," he said suddenly in a panic "how much of that dream did you hear Thal?"
    
    "You better not be late next time or I'll spend all that time telling the others something interesting." she said with a harsh smile, skipping out of the library.
    
    "Thal hold on, that isn't funny!"


	4. Somewhere under a Midnight sun


    In my dreams I saw Her fade away into white ash and smoke. The pain of seeing Her disappear was overshadowed only by the agony of being an outlet for Their anger at being denied their deserved vengeance on a traitor. As I slept I saw visions of the torture they would inflict on me in her stead, of the eternities of suffering waiting for me. My dreams were plagued by constant assaults from imagined deathly-faced enemies and crushing sense of guilt that pervaded my subconscious. 
    
    In my waking hours I heard Their Whispers, voices telling me of my failures and my weakness. On my better days they tell me to simply accept Oblivion and end the suffering of having to live. On my bad days they lay blame to those around me, on the Silver Prince like he deserves for attacking us, on the Tyrant for leaving me alone, and finally on Maka for leading her astray.
    
    On my worst days I'm unable to tell the Whispers apart from my own thoughts.
    
    Today isn't that bad, yet. 
    
    Still, ignoring the voices was easier than ignoring the dreams, if only barely. My charms helped in that regard, but even then I still needed a certain amount of rest to be at my best or at least good enough to handle the day ahead of me. So I lay in my canopy bed, it's heavy purple curtain separating me from the world and the Whispers from the world, the mantra I had adopted coming endlessly from my lips. 
    
    A knock at my door interrupted my routine.
    
    "Fleur are you there?" Baron's voice coming from the other side.
    
    A quick mental check told me the Underworld's sun was high in the sky and that I had overslept, so to speak.
    
    "Yes I'm here, just give me a moment please." I said in a quiet voice, just loud enough for him to hear.
    
    "Whenever you're ready to leave." 
    
    Baron had asked that I accompany him on a trip to the surrounding islands to help round up and pacify the local ghost population, it wasn't something he really needed my help with, but having something to do helped distract me and he knew that. Baron had taken charge wonderfully since the battle, since her passing. Even before that he had quickly gained all of our trust and if not friendship, then our loyalty.
    
    With a breathless sigh I finally sat up and parted the curtains to begin getting ready. A pair of ghostly servants stood waiting for me, clothes and a tray of food waiting. The food was a simple plate of toasted bread with jam made from fruits from Tianna. Eating quickly I stood to look at the clothes selected for me, a simple flowing dress embroidered with prayers to the departed with matching gloves and thigh high stockings worn with a pair of high heels.
    
    Dressing carefully, I looked up to see my maid's holding a makeup kit with questioning eyes, nodding once I sat in front of my vanity and allowed them to apply a small layer of black makeup over my eyes, cheeks, and a few lines cutting down across my lips. On top of my already bone white skin it gave me a subtle skull-like appearance, a style reminiscent of certain ancestor cults in the Southeast.
    
    The final piece was something I hadn't been without since I visited the Titan, a black sheer mourning veil attached to a wide brim hat, with that done I stood ready to face the world with all my horrors.
    
    Baron stood waiting in the hallway outside, reading various reports of our new base's activities. Seeing me step out of my room he stepped forward offering me his arm.
    
    "You look lovely today."
    
    "Thank you." I said taking his arm with my first smile of the day.
    
    "Ready to go?" he asked, leading me down outside when I nodded.
    
    "Today we'll do a short tour focusing on getting a good census on the surrounding population, we'll take who we can if it's easy, but any real deals will wait until some other day."
    
    Nodding along I listened to him describe the route as we came into view of the First Age ships gifted to us in exchange for Dark Omen's old wreck. Still covered in it's original Soulsteel plating, refitted with various weapons taken from the Dark Omen and crewed by Baron's best soldiers both living and dead, our fledgling fleet was truly a terror of the Underworld seas.
    
    Leading my up to the deck, we found Reken floating at the ship's wheel giving orders to the crew.
    
    "Reken good job, I'll take over from here" he said, his caste mark bleeding to life beneath the brim of his tricorn "why don't you show Fleurdelis to her room."
    
    My room in fact turned out to be the Captain's room, sitting on the cot in the corner of the room ready to wait until I was called.
    
    "Ma'am?"
    
    Looking up I noticed Reken hadn't left the room, floating by the door she had a worried expression.
    
    "Do you need something?" I asked, it wasn't like her to be so reserved.
    
    "I wasn't really sure who else to ask about this," he started, rubbing her hands together "the others don't hear them as strongly as I do and I didn't want to start any rumors."
    
    "Is something the matter Reken?," I asked motioning for her to sit besides me.
    
    "The Whispers, from the Neverborn I mean," she spilled as she rushed over ignoring the cot entirely "they've been so much stronger lately."
    
    Kneeling at my feet she spoke to me  anxiously, spilling her long contained fears and worries.
    
    "They've been in my dreams almost constantly, telling me to do things, to betray all of you and hurt you."
    
    Looking down at her I couldn't help but feel a strange sense of deja vu, as if I had lived this scene before. 
    
    "Reken" I said softly, placing my hand on her ethereal head "take a breath."
    
    She stopped with a hiccup, looking up from my lap. Pulling out a handkerchief, I cleaned  her tear-stained face as I spoke to her.
    
    "There's nothing to worry about and nothing to fear from those corpses Reken," the words came out with a confidence that I didn't know I had "everything will be okay."
    
    "How can you be so sure?" she said hopeful, wanting to truly believe.
    
    The words were like a memory, coming out unbidden.
    
    "Because I'm here to protect you."
    
    Placing my hat on her head I smiled down at her. I remember now, I was once on the other side of this conversation. When I first joined with the Tyrant and was still unused to the Whispers I cried out to her. She responded coldly, but not without sympathy. I can still picture her sitting on her throne awkwardly trying to comfort me with hard facts.
    
    That's also why I knew to expect Reken's next question.
    
    "How can you be so sure you can?" she said quietly "how can you be so strong?"
    
    This time I remembered a different face speaking soft and warm words, spoken from the heart. My mantra.
    
    "Because Reken, No darkness born of a human heart is too bleak for the light."


	5. Somewhere inside a Directional Titan


    "I don't have to take this."
    
    Samiel Tai Tianna, prince of Tianna, lover of the goddess formerly known as Dancing Smoke, and Exalted of the Elemental Dragons all but ran away towards the exit of the Directional Titan, face red with a mixture of anger and embarrassment. Mostly embarrassment.
    
    "Wait Sammy wait," Flame said in between fits of giggles "I didn't mean to make you mad."
    
    Blocking the doorway in front of Samiel, The Flame that Marched Against The Sea stood three meters tall with dragon wings, horns, and a long sinuous tail, she was the picture perfect example of a Lesser Elemental Dragon. Currently that noble countenance was trying her best to hold back her laughter with tears in her eyes.
    
    Samiel looked away in a huff waiting for Flame's laughter to die down. It was honestly hard to stay mad at her in these rare moments when she was happy, though he preferred it when it wasn't at his own expense. Looking at her from the corner of his eye he couldn't help but smile at how unguarded she was. She hadn't been this happy since that night the Silver Prince temporarily took control of her, no maybe since she regained her power and her memories. It saddened him so much between them had changed after that, but things were slowly getting better between them. Not necessarily going back to the way they were, so much as making something new.
    
    Still this was too much.
    
    "Are you done yet?" he asked, stepping back away from the exit and turning away from Flame.
    
    "Yes, yes," she said, her giggles finally dying down "I'm sorry, I'm done now."
    
    Samiel stayed silent as he looked around at the room. The reactor room had been cleaned and patched up as best as they could with what they had, but signs of the battle were still obvious. The biggest clue being the damaged reactor core and entrance to Flame's Sanctum. Samiel wasn't sure what the inside looked like yet, he hadn't wanted to push and Flame hadn't invited him in either, but he couldn't imagine something as terrifying as the Silver Prince's sword didn't leave everything untouched.
    
    "Hey don't tell me you're actually that mad about a little teasing?" Flame asked him, stepping up behind him and wrapping her arms around his neck.
    
    "No, no, just," Samiel stopped, thinking about the real reason he came down to talk to her "Maka should be back by now you know."
    
    "Mmm." Flame hummed after a second even as she squeezed him tighter against her stomach.
    
    "You haven't seen or spoken to her since before the wedding." he said slowly, feeling her breathing stop against his back.
    
    She gave him another hum as he continued, "She probably wants to see you, you know?"
    
    "No she doesn't." she said finally.
    
    "Of course she does Flame," he said craning his head to look up at her "why would you think that?"
    
    "Why wouldn't she, I mean I got her stupid best friend killed." she snapped, releasing Samiel and walking off.
    
    "Who are you talking about?," Samiel said chasing after her "the Tyrant?"
    
    "You heard her when we spoke, she cares more about her than she does about me."
    
    "That's not fair Flame," he said catching her by the arm "Maka cares about everyone, maybe more than she should, but that include you too."
    
    "No she doesn't." she said still not looking at him.
    
    "She was asking about you at the wedding you know." he said turning her around and looking straight into her eyes.
    
    "She was hoping you would be there."
    
    After a minute she looked away from his gaze.
    
    "I heard it was a nice ceremony."
    
    "Nice is definitely one way to put it."
    
    Holding her hands tight in his own he said, "Maka definitely cares about you, she already has Valeriana making plans on how to safely get the island in the air you know?"
    
    "Really?"
    
    "Valeriana was actually pretty mad about it, she had all these plans that got scrapped because of it." Samiel smiled as he remembered her drunken rambling at the wedding "but once she got started she really couldn't stop."
    
    "Why?" squeezing his hands so hard he thought they might break she repeated "Why? How can she forgive me so easily?"
    
    Molten tears dripping down her face, she cried out to Samiel.
    
    "Why doesn't she hate me?"
    
    Samiel looked up, stunned at the sight. Then he remembered that night they restored her memory, that rage he saw in her eyes, that anguish.
    
    His a determined spark in his eyes he stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her.
    
    "Because she loves you."
    
    "Just like I do Flame."
    
    Flame fell to her knees, crying and burning a hole into Samiel's shirt, and hugging him back.
    
    They stayed like that until her tears faded away. They sat on the floor together in a delicate silence before Flame finally spoke up.
    
    "Samiel?"
    
    "Yeah?"
    
    "You love me?" she asked, her tone wavering.
    
    "Of course I do." he said, looking at her.
    
    Her eyes shone with a fiery gleam.
    
    "Is it a Burning Love?" she blurted out, a smile breaking out with her teasing tone returning full force.
    
    "Oh Dragons damn it Flame," he snapped pushing her away.
    
    Flame fell over, unable to keep her balance between her fits of giggles.
    
    "We were having a moment!"
    
    Flame's laugh seemed to follow him all the way up to the surface.


	6. Somewhere back home.


    "I hope everything goes well for her."
    
    Regis and Millian stood on the roof of Golden Reach watching the horizon where Maka and the others disappear in the blink of an eye. The early morning chill sending shivers up her back, Milly let out a small sneeze as she went back inside with Regis.
    
    "Everything will be fine, there's nothing Maka can't do once she sets her mind on it" Regis said closing the door behind him "besides, she's got all the others with her."
    
    "You're right, I'm sure they can rein her in if she tries anything dumb." Milly nodded, sounding honestly reassured at the thought.
    
    "You know Mikahil was telling me about a word used in some parts of the Realm to describe you."
    
    "Oh?" she turned to him eyes narrowing, daring him to continue this line of thought.
    
    "It was kind of hard to pronounce and it doesn't really translate into Seatongue apparently." Regis said completely missing the hint.
    
    "It was kind of like sweet and spicy or hot and cold?" Regis said closing his eyes to try and remember what Mikahil had said.
    
    "Oh look it's Maka's room, we should clean it up. Right now." Milly said forcefully ending the conversation.
    
    "Huh?" Regis said looking up to see the double doors leading to Maka's now empty room.
    
    Their feet had led them here more by habit than anything else, but Regis nodded after a brief moment of confusion. Opening the doors they were greeted by Valeriana's beautifully designed room, it's two main features being the large heated and slightly bubbling pool on one end of the room and the extra large, extra sturdy bed on the other. The room also had a myriad of dressers, closets, and vanities that held all the clothes and accessories that didn't fit in Maka's magic pocket.
    
    "It's not as bad as I thought it would be honestly." Millian said noting the only slightly rumpled, but clean bed sheets before pulling them all together into a small pile.
    
    "We should probably drain and scrub the pool while Maka's gone and we have the chance." Regis said aloud as he stood at the pool's rim "Valeriana taught you how to do that right?"
    
    "Well she did, but that isn't necessary." Milly said cryptically as she stepped up besides him.
    
    "What do you mean?"
    
    She opened her mouth to respond before shutting it, deciding it would be easier to just show him. Clapping her hands three times she addressed the pool.
    
    "Come on you worthless maids, time to get to work."
    
    The pool came to a sudden stop as the water stopped completely, not moving as if frozen solid before erupting in a burst of movement. The water surged and gathered together climbing up onto itself forming a dozen or so bodies before finally taking shape into a squad of fetishized maids standing at attention facing Milly, Silk's hobgoblins.
    
    Regis stood speechless at the sight even as Millian began directing the maids with smooth and precise orders, with a sharp salute  they moved to replace the sheets and began scrubbing the now empty pool with mops and buckets that appeared in their hands from nowhere.
    
    "What?" Regis said finally.
    
    "They listen to me for some reason, I haven't figured out why." she said watching over the maids as they brought in new sheets and pillows for the bed "they're pretty dumb though, they take my orders literally if I'm not careful."
    
    Looking back at the pool, Regis turned back to Milly and asked, "Do you think Maka knows?"
    
    "Would she even care?" she replied with a shrug.
    
    He didn't respond as they watched the maids go around the room, Milly and Regis occasionally correcting them.
    
    "Not that, leave that desk alone." Milly said suddenly, moving towards the corner of the room to where one of the maids stood hand reaching out to the desk nestled there. Pulling her hand back the maid bowed and moved back to help the other maids. 
    
    Maka's desk in the corner was the one piece of furniture in the room not used for pleasure, well that probably wasn't true either considering whose room it was. The desk normally contained all of Maka's work for governing and ruling Pearl, from progress reports on the city to papers detailing the formation of it's makeshift police force.
    
    Now it sat relatively empty and neat, all of the work that had piled on completed before she left. The desk now had only ink bottles and pens all lined up and a single letter placed in the center of the desk with Queen Amata's name written in flowing letters.
    
    "A message to the Queen?" Regis said looking at the letter.
    
    "Looks like."
    
    "I wonder if it's important."
    
    "Considering it's from Lady Maka, I'm sure it's of the utmost importance." Milly said with such false sincerity that Regis was surprised her tongue didn't jump right out of her mouth.
    
    "You never know, if she left it for Queen Amata then maybe it is." Regis said, trying to defend his mistress as Millian picked up the letter and examined it.
    
    "That's why she sealed it with a kiss right?" Milly said deadpan, flipping the letter over to show him the gold lipstick mark sealing the letter.
    
    "I said maybe," he said looking away.
    
    "The perfume must be a secret message too right?" Milly responded, noticing the flowery smell coming from the contents of the letter.
    
    "Either way we still have to get it delivered." Regis said defeated.
    
    "Yes, yes." she said smugly.
    
    "Should we use a courier?"
    
    As immigration from Tianna increased more people were leaving family behind and so couriers had become a popular job. With Tianna's high literacy rate thanks to Queen Amata's education policy, letters and packages constantly traveled between Pearl and Tianna.
    
    "No," Milly said shaking her head "there's none we could trust to deliver mail to royalty yet. We'll give it to Irene or Samiel to deliver, if they aren't here we can go ourselves."
    
    After giving a final set of instructions to the maids, Millian and Regis set off to where they could find the closer of the two heirs of Tianna, Irene's workshop. 
    
    As always the sounds of people at work were loud enough to escape the shut doors to the workshop. Regis stepped forward and pulled open the door which only increased the volume of noise. Looking inside they spotted Irene sitting at a desk studying some papers. 
    
    "Lady Irene?"
    
    It always surprised Regis to see Millian to be this polite to others when she was so blunt with Maka, but that was part of her charm.
    
    "Yes?" Irene said looking up, for once not so caught up in her work that she forgot about the rest of the world.
    
    "We have a letter for Queen Amata from Maka." Millian said holding the letter to her "we were hoping that you could give it to her next time you saw her."
    
    "From Maka?" Irene asked, taking the letter.
    
    Noticing the lipstick and the perfume coming from the letter Irene showed an amused smile.
    
    "A love letter huh."
    
    "Told you." Milly smirked at Regis.
    
    "I said maybe."
    
    "There's no problem, I was planning on heading back there soon anyway." Irene said placing the letter in her desk for safekeeping.
    
    "Honestly that Maka, sending love letters at her age." Milly said, taking the chance to take a shot at Maka again "she could have just gone to see the Queen herself."
    
    "I think it's pretty sweet actually" Irene said smiling at the thought "and I know for sure that Mom loves them."
    
    "Hmph, well if you say so." Milly said trying for indifference despite the smile on her face.
    
    "Tsundere!" Regis shouted suddenly.
    
    "What?" 
    
    Milly and Irene both turned to him in surprised, Milly more confused while Irene's eyes had taken on an amused gleam.
    
    "That was the word Mikahil said, you're tsundere Millian."
    
    Irene burst into a fit of giggles as Milly's face burned bright red.
    
    "You idiot!"


	7. Somewhere Beneath the Stars


    The Great Auditorium of Golden Reach would someday be known across Creation as one of the city's great wonders, where magnificent deeds were acted out and beautiful music was played by the best the West had to offer. Exalted from all over the land would flock to it on the rumor that Pearl's very own queen would take to that breathtaking stage to sing and dance under the sun. Probably.
    
    Amata lay on a blanket spread out on the floor of the currently empty room, the roof open to expose the stars. She contemplated that fragile future, one of many possible ones and smiled. Seeing the future like that was an inaccurate and difficult process, especially with so many Exalted centered on the city, but it was easy to imagine this one coming to be. Even while planning for a war Maka still wanted that future, asking for this very room.
    
    Amata frowned as her thoughts turned to her absent wife. Her eyes roamed the sky looking for her bright shining star, her gaze first went to the Ewer where her star so often made it's home. Amata could easily imagine that Maka had been born under the Ewer in how she so strongly personified the constellation, in love with love seemed to define her.
    
    But her star was not found there.
    
    When she failed to find her there next she went where her star had been found more and more often as of recent. The Pillar represented her ideal as a queen, a righteous and beloved ruler. Amata toyed with the wedding band around her own finger, the near forgotten symbol that represented the constellation's stable love, feeling it's partner ring so very far away to the south.
    
    But still her star was not to be found.
    
    With more than a little amount of hesitation she peered at the Lovers with her breath reflexively held. The Lovers was a trap for Maka, a place she could so easily fall into if she didn't take care. It wouldn't be the first time Maka had delved into it's trappings, for a Solar there were so few relationships that couldn't be called uneven and though she tried hard, she so loved to indulge in the physical aspects of lust.
    
    But happily her star was absent there as well.
    
    Tonight her star shone with The Peacock, the constellation of practical alliances and partnerships. No doubt Maka was hard at work gaining allies and friends to take back her throne.
    
    Amata considered for a moment sending a bit of help in the form of her astrological magic, but eventually decided against it. Maka's personal destiny was difficult to affect even before she was given her crown. The Despot on the other hand was a simple mortal from all information gathered.
    
    She put those thoughts aside for now as she examined the open letter beside her. Sealed with a kiss and lightly spritz with her favorite perfume, the letter quietly taken from Irene's workdesk and replaced by a duplicate for a little fun, had a few favors after the first couple of pages containing a love letter that quickly delved into something more likely found in a maiden's secret love novel. She simply asked her to look at some documents Maka had been working on concerning Wave's recent take over and a bit on a new army structure that Amata would leave to some better minded folks she knew.
    
    For now she simply held that letter close to her chest and waited for her love to come back home to her.


	8. Somewhere in a daughter's workshop


    Irene watched with a smile as Millian chased poor little Regis out of the workshop before turning back to her desk.
    
    Scattered sheets of paper littered her workspace, varying from reports on the rebuilding of the various essence weaponry that was salvage from the attack to progress reports from her engineer's corp. Picking one up at random she saw it was an incident report that occurred on one of the First Age ships, some of the workers reported hearing voices during the Soulsteel stripping. Irene made a note to investigate the ship in question as she sorted through the other documents.
    
    It still grated on her that she would have to give up one of these ships to someone that had been stupid enough to believe that someone who named their country Skullstone wasn't absolutely evil, but unless she could convince her mothers to change their minds off it would go.
    
    It surprised her some days how easily she came to call Maka her mom, especially with how their relationship started. She knew Maka had been in the city for a while before the attack and her Exaltation, but she couldn't for the life of her remember her before then. There might have been a few times her mom took some private dinners or made a few more visits to the guest wing, but her first memories of Maka are her standing side-by-side with Samiel and then that wonderful dinner soon after.
    
    And how things have changed since she made her appearance. Her mom has never been happier or so unburdened, Sammy is more relaxed than he's ever been, and she has so many new toys to play with.
    
    Irene took one last look at the papers in front of her before pushing them all away. Maka had done so much for her she wanted to do something back.
    
    Opening one of the lower drawers of her desk she took out a stack of papers and started drawing. It was an old cliched hobby of hers, but sculpting and general stoneworking had always been easy for her thanks to her Exaltation and while she hadn't had much time to practice it as of late she knew it wasn't something she could just forget. Setting pen to paper Irene got to work, sketching out blueprints and designs ranging from statues the size of a mountain to a timeline detailing the growth of her boobs.
    
    She had to stop once she realized not only was the sun long set, she was also drawing up a scale model of the DragonKaiser with full functioning weapons and Water Dragon Grip. She set that aside for later before sighing as she looked at the pile of ideas she had done. There were several good ones, but nothing really felt right. Her current favorite was a war monument for the Defense of Tianna, but she was worried it might dredge up some bad memories for her.
    
    Irene moved away from the desk in frustration, everything felt too impersonal for what she wanted to do. Stepping up to the window she noticed the sun was beginning to rise. Had she really spent so much on this?
    
    Sighing once more she went to her back to her desk this time to grab the letter to her mom, she might as well take it to her while she gave this some more thought.
    
    When she opened the drawer she saw it was gone. In it's place was a much thinner blue envelope with her name on the front in familiar handwriting.
    
    The card inside had only a single word.
    
    Home
    
    At least now she knew how her mom always seemed to know the impossible and how she always knew just what to say.
    
    And so Irene got to work, working to remind Maka of what she set out to retrieve.
    
    A home, not just the one that was taken from her, but one she made here with her own two hands.


	9. NYSELA'S SUPER AMAZING TRAINING CAMP FOR WEAK LOSERS JOURNAL


    DAY ONE
    
    The first day has gone about as well as I expected. 
    Karas and Janet were ahead physcially as Dawns and Nights tend to be. Karas was physically stronger, but Janet came out ahead as far as performance goes.
    
    Maka was as disappointing as expected, she wasn't as fit as she could have been. It was obvious to tell she depended on charms to pick up the slack where hard training was ignored. I was tempted to increase her gravity along with Karas and Janet, but all her extra weight might have actually killed her.
    
    Valeriana and Mikahil were absolutely atrocious and a little embarrassing to watch. They were weak, slow, and skinny. I thought Mikahil might snap in half from the gravity alone and Valeriana almost made me cry. All in all typical pencil pusher Twilight and Eclipse.
    Despite that none of them quit, not that I would have let them, but they all took it like Solars should. They got up and pushed through day one sweating, bleeding, and crying.
    
    Now to push them more on Day Two.
    
    Notes:
    Recorded Maka landing on her head.
    Maka is the fattest of her Circle.
    Janet Escape Attempts: 2
    
    DAY TWO
    
    Things aren't as bad on day two.
    
    Unsurpringly this time Maka came out on top of the pack. She has room for improvement given her higher essence levels, but she made it through the day in better condition than anyone else. Not that the others are a respectable standard to be held against.
    
    Karas performed admirably, he kept up with Maka for the most part and didn't let his exhaustion keep him down for long.
    Janet might have needed this as much as the two softies. She had the capacity to do well here, but she was obviously more used to short bursts of action rather than long extended work I forced on her here.
    
    Valeriana and Mikahil have already started making noticeble improvments. Mikahil looks more like a branch than a twig and Valeriana managed to keep running despite passing out once or twice. They've been working hard to try and keep pace with the others despite the obvious differences in fitness. 
    
    They know how to stick together if nothing else, they never let Valeriana or Mikahil stay down and always made sure they were all moving together. Drive and Will can't always make up for lack of skill or strength, but they can give birth to one more step or one more punch and that can make all the difference.
    
    Notes:
    Maka's sports bra broke twice during the run.
    Valeriana ran a whole lap unconscious.
    Janet Escape Attempt: 5
    
    DAY THREE
    
    Today the fun part starts.
    
    After giving them a bit of time together I took each aside one by one.
    Janet knew SHS, she was familiar and fairly practiced with it, but she definitely preferred to stay at a distance and was unfamiliar being stuck in a fight.
    
    Karas excelled here as a Dawn should. He was as strong and skilled as should be expected of him, but nothing he did surprised me. It's not enough to fight well, he has to turn everything he is into a weapon.
    
    Mikahil knew some theory on martial arts and had a little bit of general knowledge on hand to hand fighting. The next part will be a good practice for him.
    
    Valeriana I had to teach a different lesson to. I didn't need anything to know that she has never been in a serious life or death match herself. So I taught her what it was like to get hurt.
    
    Maka actually managed to surprise me. She must have been training a lot with people or gods much stronger than her. She wasn't overwhelmed by the power difference and she knew how to react to being overpowered.
    
    The latter half of the day was sad. I could guess just from watching them that they've never really had to fight together as a Circle. There was no instinctive team work in any of them, they were overly protective of Valeriana, Mikahil floated between everyone almost unsure of where he fit in the fight, Karas tried to take more than he could by himself and didn't do it effectively, Maka was too conscious of the fact that she wasn't fighting with her Lunar Mate like she was used too, Janet tried to keep an eye on the others, but more often than not went off on her own.
    
    They wanted to trust each other, but didn't know how to yet.
    
    Notes:
    Valeriana squeeks when you hit her.
    Maka has a decent right hook.
    Janet Escape Attempts: 6
    (None during the latter half of the day.)
    
    DAY FOUR
    
    Maka's a fucking idiot.
    
    Other than that things went smoothly today.
    
    I had them practice their new charms against some practice dolls in a little bit of more live combat. 
    
    Karas started mixing around all the different fighting styles he knew. 
    Mikahil was more confident in his skills after yesterday. 
    Valeriana put yesterday's anger to good use beating on some poor dolls. 
    Janet is even jumpier after getting knocked around yesterday.
    Maka went all the way back to her earlieset incarnation. I'm actually a little impressed, the Primordial War Veterans used especially potent charms in their time fighting them, if she learned even one charm from them it might be worth it. 
    
    She's still an idiot though.
    
    Notes:
    Valeriana can be pretty strong when she's angry.
    Janet Escape Attempts:10
    
    DAY FIVE & SIX
    
    Maybe Maka isn't an idiot.
    
    After taking the others to their appropriate teachers, I came back to Maka wanting to learn Arms of the Unconquered Sun. It was something I hadn't expected to hear, but I can't really say I'm surprised after our first talk back in Tianna.
    
    I hate to say it, but she was an amazing student. She picked up on the physical side of the style faster than anyone I've taught this to and the thematic side was almost instinctive to her.
    
    I wanted to get as much of the Style ingrained in her in the small amount of time we had, so we focused on getting an overview of the whole style and learning the basics.
    
    I wish we could have had more time, we trained right to the last second before I had to go pick up the others.  Maybe if I find time in the future I'll go down and see if she's been slacking off.
    
    It's been a long time since I taught someone that excited to learn.
    
    Notes:
    I'm a great Sifu.
    Janet Escape Attempts: 11 (One on the way to her teacher)
    
    DAY SEVEN
    
    Maka is the biggest idiot in Yu-Shan.
    Maybe I am too.
    
    After dropping off the others again, I went back and somehow got convinced to take Maka to go see Venus. I'm sure she didn't use charms, but I'm not sure why I agreed to it.
    
    Still I had her wait outside while I went to go set up an appointment with Big Blue herself. A few directions from some friends later and I was in her office trying not to look to hard at her.
    She was excited for it actually, I think that's worse than anything else. She said she had her own business with Maka so it was perfect for her.
    
    Today was the last day for them here. I wish I could have kept them here longer, I know these five could be amazing with more time, but these seven days will have to do. 
    
    I do understand why He has placed so much in Maka and her Circle, it's not about what they can do now, but what they might do in the future. 
    
    Hope is a wish for the future.
    
    Notes:
    Total Janet Escape Attempts: 13
    Quit Count: 0
    No one gave up in the end.


	10. A different kind of summer tournament


    "And here we are in the Grand Finals of the first ever EXALTED BEACH VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT!"
    
    Radiant cheered from the referee stand beside the large rectangular court and net, shooting golden fireworks out from her anima that was drowned out by the cheering of the crowd.
    
    "On one side we have the unfazed and the indomitable, your very own, Queen Maka!" Radiant called out, her voice enhanced by the mic to be heard over the increased yells and cheers.
    
    "She's made a powerful showing this tournament with a solid receive that can handle any balls thrown at her and not to mention that golden body we've all come to know and love that still manages to distract the competition with a well timed slip of the bikini!"
    
    Maka jumped and blew a few kisses to the crowd from her side of the court in front of the net, wearing a sensual and very revealing yellow slingshot bikini.
    
    "And to her left, her partner, the offense to her defense, the spike to Maka's receive, TIA!" Radiant continued "Tia's powerful attacks are the same no matter the battlefield as some of her opponents and the nurse station can tell you."
    
    Tia roared out behind Maka in her simple white one piece swimsuit.
    
    This time the cheers came from a different section of the stands, Tia's tribe yelling for their leader to crush the competition, some of them meaning that literally. 
    
    Radiant was in the swing of it now, standing on her chair as she turned to the other side of the court.
    
    "But their opponents aren't to be taken lightly, a powerful combination of their own, these two have swept aside the bracket clean with an awesome amount of skill and pluck."
    
    "The Paladin of the Beach, with a fast pass and a faster attack, our very own Karas!" 
    
    Karas in his open shirt and shorts turned to wave to the distinctly high pitched cheers behind him, his sunglasses doing well to hide his embarrassed eye twitch.
    
    "And his partner, his friend, his eternal rival for all days is of course, LYNNE!"
    
    Lynne turned to grin at Karas, wearing a very stylish green skirt over a black bikini he cut a very cute and deceptive figure that earned him his own loud fan base.
    
    "Who will come out on top, who will claim the prize, the glory and the bragging rights," Radiant was standing balanced on the net now, trying her best to mimic Maka's super wide social charms with just the mic and more than enough enthusiasm from herself and the crowd "Who will be Tianna's first Champion of Sand!"
    
    Hopping down from the net and taking a moment to catch her breath Radiant raised her hands to call forward the teams.
    
    "A coins flip will decide who serves first and then we can get started!"
    
    Maka and Karas both stepped up to the net and the panting Night caste.
    
    "Enjoying yourself?" Maka smiled from her side of the court.
    
    "You better believe it, front row seats to this sold out like hotcakes and I get better than those by half." Radiant giggled, her cheeks red.
    
    "And what was that intro suppose to be?!" Karas demanded, already trying to ignore the catcalls coming from his side of the stands.
    
    "Just reading the notes that were given to me." Radiant said slyly peaking around him to wink at Lynne.
    
    "I should have guessed," Karas shook his head already giving up on that argument "can we just move on and flip already."
    
    "Sure, sure, sure." Radiant said pulling out a gold florin from seemingly nowhere.
    
    "Heads for Maka, Tails for Karas, winner decides who serves, only cheat if you think I won't catch you." Radiant said already tossing the coin in the air knowing neither side could.
    
    "And coin goes to Maka" Radiant called out aloud, looking to her for directions.
    
    "We'll serve first obviously." Maka said, shooting Karas a particularly vicious grin.
    
    "Then let's get this party started!" Radiant said, smoothly back flipping to land in her referee seat as the two teams got into position "and let the final match BEGIN!"
    
    Without a wasted moment Tia was already in the air following the ball she had thrown, arm twisted into a huge muscled fist that sent the Valeriana-treated ball crashing into the boys side. Lynne failed to react altogether while Karas only barely failed to reach the ball in time before it cratered the sand in front of him.
    
    "And that's what I call an explosive start with the girls gaining a fast lead." Radiant screamed over the cheers, as Maka and Tia high fived and the boys picked themselves up.
    
    "In case you forgot or are just tuning in, the match goes to the first side to reach 3 points. Don’t blink or you might just miss it.”
    
    "Winners of the rally get to serve, can our beautiful ladies keep this going?"
    Once again Tia was in the air, over muscled arm sending the ball in the straight line course for the sand.
    
    This time the boys were ready, Karas was already waiting at the balls destination point, arms together to catch the falling meteor. With a grimace of pain and a mote essence, Karas bounced the ball from it's lethal descent to a gentle arc over to Lynne.
    
    "And that's our Paladin, fearless in the court as in the battlefield, that serve has sent more than a few competitors to our lovely doctor's waiting hands."
    
    Lynne meanwhile had jumped to reach the ball at it's high point, arm cocked back to attack. Tia was ready for him, arms up over the net to block the attack, they both hung there for an impossibly long time, the ball descending lower and lower before Lynne burst into action. With a smirk Lynne's arm twisted, changing to a boneless squid limb, curving to knock the ball not forward, but to the side into Karas' waiting palm.
    
    The spike came down hard into Maka's arms before suddenly spinning down and away, drilling into the sand.
    
    "And the boys tie it up with those clever tactics that brought them to the finals," Radiant said into the mic over the roaring of the crowd "I don't know what you expected from this match everybody, but I know for sure it definitely won't disappoint."
    
    “And now it’s the boys turn to serve.”
    
    Unlike Tia, Kiaras took a moment to get his bearing before tossing the ball up and in that small moment his anima exploded out as he sent the ball scything down in an arc of destruction.
    
    Tia dove to intercept in a panic, managing to make it in time for the ball to bury her into the ground and out of sight.
    
    “It’s still alive!” Starfall called out, her caste mark shining on her brow as her eyes followed the ball come out of the hole in straight line, still bleeding out the momentum from the devastating spike.
    
    Maka leapt up several meters into the sky catching up to the ball before it could fly out of bounds. She glanced down with a grimace, knowing Tia wouldn’t be able to climb out of the hole to continue the pass, so she lightly hit the ball up in a gentle arc that would be easy to intercept, but would give her time to dig Tia out.
    
    “A bold attack from Karas forces Maka to give up her counterattack, to save her partner, but it looks like Lynne isn’t going to let that happen!”
    
    Lynne had practically flown up to meet the falling ball to try and deny Maka the time she needed. Twisting in the air, Lynne rippled as his muscled shifted under his skin and he spiked the ball down.
    
    Maka looked up from pulling Tia out, her eyes wide before she swung Tia out of the hole and at the incoming ball. Tia’s face met the ball with a solid thunk over the net, catching Lynne and Karas completely off guard and scoring them their second point.
    
    “And the girls turn it around in an amazing display of teamwork that the referee has totally declared legal!” Radiant yelled over the cheering and laughing crowd.
    
    “Now it’s the girls turn to serve, but it looks like Tia isn’t fully recovered yet”
    
    Maka stood in the back bouncing the ball up and down in her hands as she looked at Tia in front of her, her eyes still swollen shut, trying to give her a little more time to heal as much of her eyes as she could.
    
    “Now or never your majesty.”
    
    With a sigh, Maka lobbed the ball up and served the ball across the court, moving forward as soon as she could to defend while Tia moved back blindly.
    
    Karas didn’t waste anytime sending the ball towards Tia’s side of the court with a lightning fast attack. Still Maka dove sideways, her anima flaring but just managing to catch it up and over the net. Lynne followed up with another hit towards Tia dispensing with any fancy tricks in favor of another fast and hard attack.
    
    Tia’s ears shifted into a pair of fluffy bat ears as she stepped back trying to listen for the ball, her arms twisting around completely behind snapping the ball blindly up right into Karas’ block.
    
    Maka lunged below the net, trying to catch the ball, but falling just a few inches short.
    
    And the boy’s side of the crowd squealed in response.
    
    “Despite an ingenious move by Tia, the boys tie it up one last time.”
    
    “This is it, the last point of the match, whoever wins this wins the tournament!”
    Tia stood in the court shock still, arms frozen in place behind her, the only indication of emotion coming from the sounds of her teeth cracking as she bit down in anger.
    
    Before Maka could say anything to her she swung her arms around slamming her fists together in a boom, her whole body becoming encased in an exoskeleton harder than steel, her eyes popping out blood red as her anima went totemic. Finishing off her Warform transformation with a red veil-turned-scarf she glared down the boys across from her.
    
    Lynne responded in turn, growing a foot in height as Karas’ anima followed suit and went totemic.
    
    The crowd was silent now despite the tension being higher than ever.
    
    “And it looks like the kid’s gloves are off.”
    
    “Karas to serve.”
    
    And for the last time, Karas took his spot, ball in hand and anima glowing.
    
    With perfect form, Karas tossed the ball up, ran forward and leapt, his body curving backwards before whipping forward hitting the ball with all the strength a Dawn caste Solar could muster.
    
    And Maka was there to meet it, anima blazing as she caught the ball in her arms, feeling it physically push her back, driving two deep furrows in the sand. But she stayed standing and unbowed.
    
    From that position Maka set the ball up and forward, lining it up dead center above the net.
    
    Exactly where Tia was waiting, fist cocked back, arm bulging beneath her exoskeleton. Tia wasn’t clear on all the rules of the sport, but she knew how to throw a punch.
    
    She didn’t jump, that wouldn’t give her the strength she needed, instead she grew. For one second she was ten feet tall, standing over the net.
    
    Lynne was there making a split second decision as the fist sent the ball careening towards him. He shifted into his spirit form, his squid arms crossing into a net, not to try and catch it, but to redirect it safely to Karas. 
    
    Karas didn’t jump. He crouched, knees bent and arms held above his head, holding a sword that wasn’t there.
    
    The ball came to him faster than most mortal’s hearts could beat. Faster than any could react. No one on this court was mortal.
    
    Karas swung his arms forward and down, striking the ball at the perfect angle. Driving it back where it came, with the just the right spin to drop as soon as it crossed the net.
    
    Or it would have if Maka hadn’t been there, holy lightning crowning her head, arm encased in solid gold Orichalcum. Open palm struck the ball with a thunderclap.
    
    And shattered it into dust above the net.
    
    Maka landed in the sand staring wide eyed at where the ball had been a moment.
    
    The silence that lasted the entire rally was broken with two simple words.
    
    “HOLY SHIT”
    
    The audience roared around them, from the stands, from Golden Reach’s windows, from everywhere around them.
    
    That day there may not have been a winner, but no one could say there were any losers.


	11. Nesting Dragons.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one is porn.
    
    
    The palace workshop was mostly empty tonight, all the workers had been given the weekend off to rest. Still Samiel walked in knowing knowing who was waiting for him.
    
    Irene lay on one of the desks, backlit by the last embers of the forge. Dressed in sexy white lace lingerie, her large firm breasts rising up and down with her labored breath. Her fingers rubbing against her drenched marble white panties, her thigh high convered legs lifting her hips off the desk in ecstacy.
    
    “Getting ready for me sister?” Samiel said huskily.
    
    “I just could wait for you Sammy, after I got your message I’ve been getting ready all day.” Irene said to him, her voice heavy with lust.
    
    The image of her waiting just for him ignited the flames of passion inside and out of Samiel, in a flash that lit up the room his clothes burst into flames leaving him bare to his sister. His toned arms reaching down to lift his lovely sister up and embracing her. 
    
    Irene lay against him reveling in the taboo, his skin literally molten hot to the touch. Running her hands from his hard defined abs up to his muscled shoulders and around his neck. Leaning in she softly placed a kiss on his lips, the gentleness at odds with the ache in her loins. 
    
     Samiel wasn’t as patient. He kissed back with a hungry ferocity, wrapping his arms around her waist Samiel pressed her stone cold body against his flaming hot chest. His tongue assaulting Irene’s own with a dominating force, urging his sister to submit to him.
    
    She could feel his hardness pulsing against her stomach like it  wanted to burn a hole straight through her. And she wanted it to.
    
    “Sammy,” Irene said pulling back from him even as he continued kissing her neck “I need you.”
    
    Samiel froze at her voice, teeth  holding her earlobe.
    
    “Say that again” he growled into her ear.
    
    Irene shuddered as she felt the rumble of his voice pressed so closely against his chest.
    
    “Please Sammy,” she begged “I need you right now.”
    
    “I can’t wait anymore,” she moaned, her nails digging scratches in his back as she quivered in his arms “I need you inside me.”
    
    Samiel kissed her again before dropping her on the table reaching down and tearing off her bra is a flash of fire.
    
    “Sammy!,” Irene said moaning as Samiel bent over and began biting her nipple. 
    
    “Stop teasing me already,” she whined “I’m all ready for you.”
    
    Samiel ignored her as he continued mauling her breasts, listening to her trying to talk between squeals and moans like he was playing an instrument.
    
    By the time he stopped, Irene was a panting insensate mess, her now thoroughly soak panties had been lost in the foreplay. 
    
    “Sammy,” Irene said, her eyes glazes and her chest heaving “please.”
    
    Samiel leaned down and kissed her almost chastely despite her appearance. Taking her hands in his own and intertwining his fingers with hers.
    
    “I love you big sister,” Samiel said lovingly, looking into her eyes  kissing her repeatedly.
    
    Irene smiled in between kisses.
    
    “I love you too little brother.”
    
    Samiel pressed forward, piercing her to her core until his hips met hers and his tip touched her entrance.
    
    Irene screamed in pleasure, quaking as the pressure she had built up over the day had been released in a single thrust.
    
    They held that pose until Irene stopped shaking, their sweating bodies in each other’s arms basking in the taboo act they were engaging in.
    
    “It’s a perfect fit.” Irene said smiling.
    
    “We were made for each other.” Samiel smiled back “I’m going to keep going.”
    
    “For as long as you want.”
    
    Samiel started moving at a sedate pace, rolling his hips back and forth to try and feel every inch of Irene as he could. Irene in turn wrapped her legs around Samiel’s waist, matching his rhythm with a familiar ease. 
    
    The sound of their hips began echoing inside the workshop as they began speeding up, it was only thanks to Valeriana’s amazing engineering that they couldn’t be heard outside. The desk beneath them began to creak and snap as the force above it took it’s toll on it. Samiel began to slow before Irene stopped him.
    
    “No, go faster.” Irene said, legs held in a vice around his waist.
    
    “I thought you didn’t want to leave a mess behind for someone to find?” Samiel asked her, despite speeding up as she asked.
    
    “I don’t care anymore,” Irene said “I’m tired of hiding this.”
    
    “What are you saying?” Samiel asked, despite his increasing almost painful hardness “what do you want?”
    
    “Fill me up.” Irene said flipping Samiel over so he was sitting on the desk and she in his lap “let everyone know what we’ve been doing.”
    
    Samiel felt himself grow hot inside her, his leaking erection pressing forcefully against her womb.
    
    “I haven’t been taking any Maiden Tea.” she said looking into his eyes “Impregnate me little brother.”
    
    “Make me yours and let everyone know.”
    
    Her words flared something deep inside his soul, his instinct to do as she said and breed overcame all thoughts in his head as he felt a shock run down his spine from his head as he his mind blanked out from sheer pleasure.
    
    Irene sat in his lap feeling his seed like liquid fire coat her insides and fill her up causing her to quake and spasm again as the feeling pushed her over the edge one more time.
    
    They held each other for what seemed like hours as the revelation of what happened washed over them and they realized that they felt lighter than they ever had. As if the secret had been a physical weight pressing down on them and now it was gone.
    
    Irene cupped Samiel’s cheeks in her hands and left a series of butterfly kisses on him until he finally regained his senses. 
    
    “Irene Tai Tianna.”
    
    “Samiel Tai Tianna.”
    
    “”I love you.””
    
    -------
    
    Zareen closed her hard cover bark journal as she put the finishing touches on her secret project. She had been working on it for as long as she knew the two siblings were in fact adopted. 
    
    Opening the secret compartment to her desk, Zareen placed the newly completed book with a dozen others of it’s kind before pulling out a brand new blank journal.
    
    On the inside cover away from wandering eyes Zareen wrote in flowing Forestongue the title for her next project, Twin Southern Suns, when a knock at her door interrupted her.
    
    “Hey girl,” the real Irene said standing at the doorway with Samiel and Aexel standing behind her “you feeling bored?”
    
    “Just writing some reports, ”Zareen said, nonchalantly closing her journal and putting it aside “is something going on?”
    
    “We got word of something weird happening in one of the nearby islands and we thought we should check it out.” Irene said “Rajan is waiting for us at the docks.”
    
    “Something that needs all of us?” Zareen said standing up and walking over to her Artifact Powerbow “count me in.”
    
    “We’re bring along our baby just in case we get to use it too.” Samiel said excitedly.
    
    Zareen’s fingers slipped at the wording for just a second before she recovered.
    
    “Any chance to use the Dragonkaiser.”


	12. Outside Perspective


    Butter, eggs, sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, and milk.
    
    Mixed together and baked in an oven at 350 degrees.
    
    Frosted with more melted chocolate cream product.
    
    This so called chocolate fudge cake was a criminally luxurious waste of rations. Mentally cataloging each ingredient and the work cost it would take to earn the specified amounts brought up a non-insignificant work load if she were to requisition it back home.
    
    The ingredient list for the dessert in front of Engine of Salvation flashed in her mind as the fork cut a small bite-sized piece and carried it into the red skinned mouth of her current conversation partner. 
    
    “Are you sure you don’t want a slice?” Ririth asked, licking a bit of frosting off of her lips.
    
    “I wouldn’t even know where to start working that off.” Engine said, watching Ririth finish off the slice of cake in horrified fascination.
    
    Engine had met Ririth only recently after Maka mentioned her similarities to herself. She had been dismissive of the idea at first, but to her surprise, she found herself agreeing with Maka. After a series of very thorough examinations and physicals Engine came to the conclusion that Ririth might just be a more intricate piece of technology than even herself.
    
    Built up from billions and trillions of clockwork wheels while retaining a sentient conscience and a fully biological bodily system. She seemed almost needlessly complex, as if someone was showing off when they built her by taking the most difficult route possible.
    
    Ririth frowned and gave her stomach a soft poke before finishing off the cake.
    
    “If you say so,” she shrugged, grabbing another slice before looking up to Engine “if you didn’t come over for cake then are you fighting with Irene?”
    
    “We aren’t fighting,” Engine snapped “She asked me to go somewhere, I said no, she asked me if I was scared, and now I’m here.”
    
    “So you’re avoiding her.” Ririth said pouring a cup of tea for her and Engine.
    
    “I’m not avoiding her.” Engine denied again taking the cup of tea “I’m just waiting for her to leave on her trip before I go out.”
    
    “Are you-””I am not scared.”
    
    Engine looked at her broken teacup and spilled tea guiltily, “Sorry.”
    
    Ririth shrugged off the apology as Engine’s hand split apart into multi-tool and began repairing the teacup to its original shining perfect state.
    
    “I’m not scared,” Engine said again, wiping away the tea from the table “I’m just…”
    
    “Not used to Creation yet?” Ririth asked her, pouring her more tea.
    
    Engine nodded silently.
    
    Another thing they had in common, both she and Ririth weren’t native to Creation. More than that, they had both come from living inside the bodies of their creators, a Primordial and Yozi respectively.
    
    Ririth was the one person she could talk to about how strange Creation was.
    
    The unsettling vertigo feeling after staring at the sky for too long, the rainstorm that didn’t melt your face, but hid deadly bolts of lightning, the seemingly calm sea that led people adrift for weeks until the crew devolved into homicidal cannibals from lack of food and water.
    
    “You shouldn’t stay cooped up in the library all by yourself for so long.” Ririth interrupted her thoughts.
    
    Engine hid her reddening cheeks with the newly restored and filled teacup not realizing she had been muttering out loud.
    
    “It’s just research.”
    
    “The Invincible Sword Princess isn’t the most accurate research material.”
    
    “Pirate Cannibals are real.”
    
    “Sometimes the rain does melt your face and sometimes you can fall into the sky.” Ririth conceded the point.
    
    Engine nodded sullenly.
    
    “Creation was suppose to be a paradise, wasn't it?” Ririth said sadly.
    
    “When we first arrived in Gem,” Engine said after a moment “one of our soldiers stepped out into the sun absolutely amazed at the light.”
    
    Ririth winced at the image.
    
    “We had to treat him for third degree burns before we realized what was happening,” she said her voice leaking the smallest bit of emotion “I mandated level 3 hazard protection from then on at all times and even then everyone was too afraid to leave the tunnels after that.”
    
    “And then the West is hardly any better, a wet desert where even an approaching rain cloud might herald a danger greater than dehydration. The North is a freezing white wasteland that can literally blind men and drive them insane from the cold and isolation. The East is a virulent biohazard that deserves to be put to the torch.”
    
    Engine finished her tirade with another broken teacup, this one shattered into little pieces.
    
    “Did Creation betray you that much?” Ririth asked quietly.
    
    Engine froze at the question, the gathered porcelain in her hands clinked at the sudden stop.
    
    “Betray?” Engine questioned aloud.
    
    “That’s what it felt like didn’t it?” Ririth said “you grew up in a place that actively hated humans, where the only safe places were where you were given permission to stay and where a single misstep in even the safest environs was death waiting to happen. And then you heard about where humans came from, a place where the golden sun shone down on blue waters that flowed gently in a green forest. Food grew on trees and the air wasn’t poison.”
    
    “Except it wasn’t. You came to Creation and it was more of the same.”
    
    Engine let Ririth’s speech swirl around in her head, giving each sentence and phrase a rigorous examination.
    
    “Yes,” she said finally, “I felt betrayed. Creation was suppose to be better than this.”
    
    “I asked my Father about it once I think,” Ririth said with a far away look “my memories of the past aren’t the best, but I remember this vividly.”
    
    Engine looked up from her hands, Ririth rarely spoke about her Father to her, the relationship between their homelands took quite a bit to get over initially.
    
    “He wrote to me in a letter,” she said, “he told me a little about how humans were made. Why they were made.”
    
    “He said when He and They still ruled Creation, they built it to suit them. All the land and the trees and the animals were made for one reason or the other because a Primordial felt like it. Humans were made to give prayer to their betters. Creation isn’t a nice place to people because it wasn’t made for them. Fire burns them, rocks crush them, water drowns them, the air suffocates them. They were made to live in fear of the world around them.”
    
    “I started hating this world,” she continued her expression clouding over “I wanted so much to go back to Malfaes, where at least it’s viciousness was worn out in the open for everyone to see. I fell in with the wrong crowd, who wanted to use me for their own ends. And I think deep down I knew that.”
    
    Engine felt what was left in her hands grind down to dust in her clenched fist.
    
    “And then I made a friend.”
    
    Ririth was smiling now, the gloomy expression she had been wearing was gone like the mist.
    
    “She saved me from myself and fought back against the world. And through her I met more and more friends. People who taught me a very important lesson.”
    
    Ririth reached over and held Engine’s hands in her own.
    
    “If you don’t like the world, then change it. Make it the Paradise it should be.”
    
    Engine looked down at warm hands, her thoughts flashing to Autochthon and her mission, to Maka and her own self-imposed mission.
    
    “Of course,” she smiled, meeting Ririth’s eyes “that’s obvious.”


	13. Demons in Tianna: The After Action Report

"Rule number one: Hide it in open sight."  
"And rule number two?"  
"The rot always comes from the top."  
You jump.

_

"Hold on stop," Amata said, holding up her hand "who were you talking to?"

"N-no one, I was just uh, narrating to myself?" Radiant said, cheeks dyed a rosy red beneath the dried blue blood. Malachite at her bedside shaking her head as she cleaned and stitched a particularly nasty slash on her side.

"Right anyway," Amata said with what definitely wasn't a knowing look on her face "that was around when you came back to the castle correct?"

"Right, I figured you were probably about done with your research and I needed a stronger lead than just a finger being pointed out a window."

Amata nodded, looking over to her desk as Malachite shoved a fistful of flower petals down Radiant’s throat, muttering something about demonic poisons. What had started off with just a few census and tourism reports had quickly been buried under a veritable mountain of Demonology and Sorcery books as the week progressed.

“Chew and swallow,” Malachite said stepping away from her patient “that’s all I can do for now, come see me if you start turning purple.”

“Thank you Malachite,” Amata smiled at her Dragonblooded doctor “and please, don’t mention any of this to Maka.”

“Of course your majesty,” the Wood-caste bowed before leaving the two alone.

“Are we really not going to tell Maka what almost happened here?” Janet asked once again through the obviously bitter medicine in her mouth.

“After everything has been resolved?” Amata asked rhetorically, moving to clean up her desk “all that would do is upset her that all this happened without her knowing anything and ask why we didn’t call her in to help”

“Why didn’t we?” Janet asked her “I mean we handled things okay, but I can’t say that last run-in wouldn’t have gone smoother if we had more muscle on hand.”

Amata shot her a look, they both already knew the answer to this question. Amata turned back to her desk, picked up a stack of books, and answered her question.

“Maka’s solutions to problems come in one setting. Loud. That wasn’t what we needed here, not so soon after the Skullstone invasion.” Amata said dropping the books into a nearby empty chest “you know this just as well, but Tianna was hit harder than Pearl was. The city might be looking better now, but people still remember friends and families being killed and raised before their eyes. They didn’t need another otherworldly incursion happening in front of them.”

Janet didn’t say anything, wiping her face with a towel to hide her chastised face. She had managed to keep most of the investigation and cult-busting out of sight, but she hadn’t actually considered how badly the city might take a more public demon attack.

“So?” Amata said changing the subject “what happened after I told you about all the victims?”

Janet added the blood-stained towel to the ever growing pile beside her and grabbed a fresh one before continuing.

“The info you gave me helped me narrow down the suspects enough for me to start investigating.” Janet said, using a wet brush to start cleaning her hair.

“I got off to a rocky start initially, but then I realized something. Whoever was planning this ritual had to be freaking out after things started coming apart on them, so I looked into who was acting oddly or just not making public appearances and that led me straight to them.”

“Lintha huh,” Amata said slamming the chest shut with more force than necessary “I guess I should be glad no one from Tianna was dumb enough to side with demons, but I hadn’t realized we were so badly infested with them that we didn’t find them until they almost summoned a third circle demon on us.”

“Maka had a run in with them way back when she had just Exalted, didn’t she?” Janet asked her curiously. Janet had spent a lot of that early time period watching her and had seen that fight in the alleyway, but it had slipped her mind since then.

“With so much happening so in those early days a few demons and fishmen are easy to forget about,” Amata said as if reading her mind “not to mention the bigger sea battle she had against them taking precedence in our minds. Although that should have been a hint, of course they must have had informants inside Tianna to so accurately attack our navy and trade ships.”

“They definitely had been around for a while if what I saw was any indication, but I don’t think they ever really intended to invade before the local group got usurped by the Lintha Sorcerer I fought. Lots of secret passages around the city, but not very many weapon stashes or the like.”

“Right,” Amata said nodding along “Tianna used to be a low priority target for all the factions in the West, I spent a long time making sure of that. So the demon summoning plot must have been an up-and-coming Pureblood trying to make his name, you said he was behind the initial ritual as well?”

“That’s what he said,” Radiant shrugged uncomfortably, her Exaltation was still one of the worst nights of her life “he recognized me at least so he must have been present.”

“Getting a bit ahead of ourselves,” Amata said pulling back the conversation “you said you found them in the sewers?”

“Right,” Radiant nodded “I was investigating the local Guild outpost when I found a passage to some underground tunnels. From there it was more or less a straight shot to the main hideout.”

“Straight shot huh,” Amata smirked “Samiel used the word Labyrinthian, but I guess he didn’t have your charms. I heard he gave you an earful about rushing off ahead after he pulled you out of inside that thing.”

“I’m not exactly used to doing the team thing,” Radiant said blushing “and considering how close the spell was from being finished I think it’s a good thing I did rush in.”

“Of course,” Amata smiled “and you did have the sense to send a message back to the palace before running in. For all that 'Secret Passage GET!' counts as a message.”

“I might have been more than a little excited when I wrote it.”

“A little,” Amata agreed “you said you got there before the Ritual was done?”

“Well the demon was kind of ghosty and there was still a lot of chanting going on so I’m guessing it wasn’t done yet,” Janet nodded “I’m still not really sure what exactly was going on.”

“There’s a lot of technical bits I could go into if you want,” Amata said sitting down across from her “but the crux of the actual ritual was to solidify the connections to Malfaes that were made during the first attempt, the actual demon summoning was more akin to shouting into a building and hoping the person you were looking for was close enough to hear.”

“And the orb the demon swallowed?” Radiant asked remembering the watermelon-sized red orb in the chest of the Sorcerer leading the ritual.

“Most likely the anchor point that was going to be used to hold the demon in place, blow that up and with nothing to anchor the demon it’s forced back to hell.”

“Zwoop.” Radiant nodded, remembering the sound the demon made on it’s exit.

“Zwoop.” 

“Actually,” Radiant asked suddenly, “I had to go inside that thing to break the orb, would I have gotten zwooped along with it?”

“Remember to thank Samiel next time you see him.”

"So he got eaten huh." Amata smirked maliciously.

"One bite," Radiant smiled at the memory of the Sorcerer moments before his death "his face was hilarious, that's going to make me bust a gut for a long time.

"The demon on the other hand, that I could stand to forget," she winced "that was scarier by a mile."

"Demons aren't beauty pageant winners," Amata said sympathetically "that one especially is an ugly thing."

"Ugly face aside, I was honestly expecting more trouble from a Third Circle Demon," Radiant said more than a little smug.

"Maybe if it was at full power," Amata said, deflating her ego "that slapdash summoning meant not only was it improperly manifested, it was likely incredibly weakened. A Second Circle Demon is a match for a circle of Solars, a Third Circle during Calibration would have wiped the floor with you with barely a thought."

"Can't even give me that much huh" Janet smiled weakly 

"No I could tell," she admitted "even as weak as it was, it didn't feel like anything I was hitting it with was really doing anything. If it wasn't for Sammy coming in with your info I might have actually died."

"I'm glad you didn't, Maka might have called off the wedding if that happened."

"We can't have that," Janet joked "I would have hated to miss it."


	14. Late Night Baptism

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Porn.

The first thing people noticed when walking in the first floor temple was the raised white marble altar located against the back wall of the room. The front of the altar facing the pews was engraved with a stunning bas relief of Maka herself, the expression one of permanent devotion. Accented with gold, precious jewels and adorned with beautiful silks and soft cushions, the altar seemed more a bed than a table despite the sacrifices brought by her loving cultists that were normally heaped on it. 

The sacrifice on it now was one of her favorites.

Maka hummed a note of satisfaction with a smile on her face.

She got herself an impressive catch tonight. He had been wearing a white and gold priest garb working dutifully late, but she could almost smell her essence coming off of him beneath his musk. He must have received a full Tiger Warrior course from her at some point if his physique was anything to go by.

But the current focus of her attention was all natural. The large cock hanging in front of her was something to brag about for sure, long and thick with a manly smell tickling her nose. The heavy balls sitting in her palm spoke of enticingly large loads ready just for her. 

She was down on her knees near the foot of her altar between the legs of the lucky priest. A shiver ran up her spine, the warm Fire season air on her naked skin doing nothing to stop her hardening nipples as she got ready to service her worshiper. The rainbow colored disc on her chest shimmered beautifully in the dim temple lights, the golden jewelry gifted to her clinked musically as she rocked her hips to-and-fro.

She took a shuddering breath in anticipation, her lips only centimeters away from him were coated in a bright red lipstick at his request.

She had to start slow if she wanted to savor this night, but a quick taste wouldn’t hurt.

A long slow lick from base to tip let her taste the sweat coming from him, her tongue doing it’s best to get as much of his flesh on it as possible. Her hands meanwhile gently caressed his balls, churning the seed waiting inside them to prepare it for her. A bead of precum oozed out the head at the apex of her lick which Maka took in with a kiss. A sample of what was to come.

Who was worshiping who here she had to wonder.

Her lover’s slow moans sped up her heart and told her to pick up the pace a bit.

Bringing both hands up to the cock before her, she swallowed the head and began pumping up and down in smooth well-practiced strokes as she lavished the tip, alternating between swirling her tongue around it and gently sucking the precum out of the cumslit with bright red kisses.

Her own moaning soon joined his in filling the temple with a lurid prayer, she could feel herself dripping onto the floor, she was wet beyond belief just from sucking his dick.

And he had yet to give his goddess her due.

Maka began bobbing her head up and down, taking in more and more of him with each pass. A ring of red marked each stop as she worked her way down, coating the cock in her saliva by the second. Maka was watering at the taste of him, she could feel him getting harder and harder in her warm mouth, but she always stopped right at the entrance to her throat. Teasing him with more, sucking on him as she pulled up and spending more time on his head before going back down.

Her hands had made their way down to her rock hard nipples before she realized it, pinching and squeezing her overly sensitive buds until they let out their motherly treasure along with more of her moaning muffled by the thick flesh in her mouth.

Soon enough he couldn’t take anymore, without thought he grabbed her head and pushed her down to his base in one forceful thrust. 

Just like she hoped.

Maka swore she felt a bolt of essence shoot down her spine as her eyes rolled up to meet his gaze, the wordless sound of what was must have been a prayer echoing in her head. She held his gaze as she came hard at the feeling of the large thick cock filling her throat, the altar in front of her becoming drenched in her holy water.

Still she didn’t hesitate for a second, with the cock in her throat Maka began humming in a low tune and swallowed rhythmically nonstop. She could feel the bulge in her throat twitching from the two sensations as he rose to his feet, the rolling massage and the vibrations soon became too much for him.

With both hands still on her head, he held her in a death grip as he began sawing his cock in and out of her mouth. Long strands of saliva connected his head and her lips in those short moments between thrusts before he rammed himself back into her inviting hole. 

Maka could have easily broken free, but the feeling of her throat being used was enough to make her drench the floor with another of her own orgasms.

She wouldn’t give up this feeling for anything.

Her hands were mauling her breast now, her fingers coated with the delicious white milk as her nails dug into her flesh in a mixture of pain and pleasure.

With one last thrust, the lucky man above her buried himself to the hilt in her mouth, his balls pressed against her tongue and lips, her drool staining her chin. Maka needed this moment to last forever, how she wished she could still choke like she used too. That all left her mind the second she felt his balls tighten, an absolutely enormous load of cum shooting straight down her throat with a deep groan.

Maka closed her eyes in ecstasy as she drenched her thighs and the floor with another explosive orgasm.

Maka and him stayed in that position for a breathless eternity, Maka twitching in delight and she mindlessly suckled on the tool in her mouth, drinking down as much of the thick cum as he would give her.

A tribute to his beautiful goddess. The gods could keep their ambrosia, she had her very own whenever she wanted here.

The two of them fell back down to the altar behind them, Maka still attached to his crotch. The bas relief glittered from Maka’s own fluids reflecting the room’s magical lights, it's expression seemingly more sexual than before. A mirror of the same one she wore now.

The slowly softening cock slid out of her throat despite Maka’s insistent suckling, much to both parties displeasure. The absence of it in her throat gave her a sensation akin to phantom pain, a memory of the soreness she used to experience before Exalting. 

Her old music tutor, an aging ex-concert musician from the Realm used to berate her for skipping out on her throat exercises when she couldn’t hit the high notes of the more difficult pieces she had been practicing.

In all fairness, she had been doing plenty of throat exercises the previous nights with her other very handsome tutor.

One of those exercises was quickly put to use encouraging the dick in front of her to full mast within seconds, after all the night was  
just starting and she was going to spend it all having fun.


	15. (Late) Halloween Special - Abyssal Quest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the one with gore.
    
    
    The Dark Omen flew through the Underworld sky with an aura of terror that only a First Age Airship could command. The power and fear of the great Soulsteel-clad beast still paled in comparison to it’s Deathlord master, Tyrant of the Doomsday Machine. 
    
    That ancient and powerful Oblivion-powered ghost sat on her throne worrying about her destination.
    
    Normally the Neverborn allowed her freedom in choosing who she gave the gift of the Black Exaltation to, but over the past few weeks she had begun receiving visions from Them. Vivid dreams of a location in the South-Western ocean deep in lintha territory, dreams of a light consuming void.
    
    She felt Them pushing her to it with an urgency that worried her.
    
    “We’re just about to reach the island you described or at least the Ghost side of it anyway.”
    
    Tyrant steadied herself before turning to look at her newly acquired Dusk leaning against the Omen’s wheel. The self-proclaimed Baron of the Final Tide had only just joined her growing Circle when she had begun receiving her dreams and she hadn’t had much time to get to know him.
    
    “So it would seem,” she nodded imperceptibly.
    
    “You know the area well,” she added after a moment’s hesitation.
    
    Baron gave a shrug, adjusting the wheel casually with his elbows.
    
    “I might not remember much about myself, but I think anyone would recognize the description of a lintha flag. As for finding this specific island, that was just following my gut I guess,” he said rolling his shoulders uncomfortably.
    
    “Exaltation often comes with old memories,” Tyrant said tersely “best not to think about it much. If we’re almost there assemble the others for landfall.”
    
    Baron nodded turning to the door and leaving the wheel to one of the ship’s ghostly sailors.
    
    “All of us are going down for this?” he asked at the door.
    
    “Yes,” she nodded feeling a Soulsteel blade in her Elsewhere pocket  “all of us.”
    
    ________________________________
    
    Tyrant exited the Shadowland portal just as Phoenix landed in a flash of black feathers in front of the others.
    
    “My lady,” he looked at her in surprise “I heard from Baron, but I didn’t think you would actually be accompanying us.”
    
    “I want to see our new Circle in action,” she said looking around at her still incomplete Circle. 
    
    Baron of the Final Tide, the newly undead captain.
    
    Doctor in Red and Steel, the macabre stitcher of flesh
    
    Speaker for the Dead, the ghost tongued soul speaker.
    
    Soaring Crimson Phoenix, the deathly black shadow.
    
    She had hand picked each of them, making sure their loyalty was to her and her alone so when the time came she need not fear a blade to the back.
    
    And now all that might come undone by a Midnight chosen by the cursed Neverborn.
    
    She shook her head turning her attention back to the people in front of her.
    
    “You’ve just returned from scouting?” she asked, ignoring the looks they were giving her.
    
    “That’s right,” Phoenix said taking the hint “there’s definitely lintha in town, but they are being oddly being quiet about it.”
    
    Phoenix unrolled a bloodstained map of the city along the shore in front of them.
    
    “The ship with the flag is docked at the port, big enough for an entire lintha war party.”
    
    “If there’s a raiding party in town, how come I don’t see any fires or you know, raiding?” Doctor asked looking over at the town just over the hill “I don’t even hear a single scream from here.”
    
    “Did they kill everyone?” Speaker asked unperturbed “I could see if there are any ghosts lingering around to ask.”
    
    “No need for that,” Phoenix said shaking his head “and no, not from what I saw. Unless they've taken the time to clean up after themselves there's no sign of any sort of battle in the town.”
    
    “You can’t take slaves if you kill everyone,” Baron said “they probably killed whoever resisted and then holed up in the biggest house in town to party before leaving.”
    
    “It's possible,” Phoenix nodded “most of the lintha that aren't still stationed on the boat are in the big white mansion in the center of the town. We got here just in time, I think they were planning on leaving in the morning.”
    
    “Let us make sure they never leave at all then.” the Tyrant commanded as the Dark Omen flew out into the nighttime sky of Creation.
    
    The quiet strained air of the docks was abruptly ended by the blast of half a dozen First Age Implosion Bows destroying the lintha war ship in a single broadside. Any cheer the town's people might have felt was quickly dispelled as the Dark Omen came into view in all it’s haunting glory.
    
    It was much easier to see the lintha from inside the town Tyrant noted as ghosts and skeletons clashed with the demonic pirates in the streets.
    
    “Just up the hill,” Baron said flicking the blood off his blades before pointing at the 3 story mansion down the street “Phoenix already went up ahead.”
    
    Tyrant nodded gesturing for him to lead the way.
    
    “Mistress,” Speaker spoke up from behind her “have you noticed?”
    
    “I believe so,” she said looking around the street littered with the bodies of lintha and her undead. She looked around at the people cowering inside their homes behind locked doors.
    
    Speaker nodded, leaving it at that before running off ahead to meet Baron at the doors to the mansion.
    
    The house was a relatively grandiose piece of architecture for the current age, expensive furniture and paintings were tossed around and destroyed in the maelstrom that was her Dusk.
    
    Tyrant walked unimpeded through the storm, lintha died with just a glance as she made her way through the lavish and once undamaged halls. A dark heartbeat echoed in her head, faintly at first, but growing louder the closer they came to Her. Resistance increased as they made their way deeper into the house, from the main hallway up to the second floor and deep in the final floor lay her destination.
    
    They heartbeat thundered in her mind, it’s presence blinded all her senses even as she reached for the door and entered the master bedroom where it vanished with one final raucous boom, leaving her with only a hollowing silence and the smell of viscera.
    
    There she was.
    
    She had to have been the pinnacle of mortal beauty once. 
    
    A woman lay chained spread eagle to the bed, arms and legs peeled raw by her bindings where once she struggled against them. Her flayed brown skin spoke of her southern origins as did the tattered remains of the clothes lying around her. Her once white hair was now irreparably stained red with her blood. A trail of tears flowed down her cheeks, her obviously empty eye sockets covered by a torn strip of cloth. Her mouth was sewn shut into a rictus smile by crude stitches. Her throat crushed, two hand-shaped bruises wrapping around her neck.
    
    Worst of all was her body, her breasts bruised and lacerated, her flanks shaved down to the spine and ribs broken and cracked open, leaving only a grisly parody of the sensual body she once had. The smell of cooked meat by the nearby fireplace telling the story of what happened to her missing flesh.
    
    The only sign of life left was her now visible heart beating weakly in defiance of the torture she had gone through. 
    
    “Oh my,” Speaker gasped as she walked into the room.
    
    She shook at the sight, her eyes falling to between the woman’s legs. She wasn’t sure what was worse, the idea that they used her before or after cutting her apart.
    
    “Call the Doctor. Now.”
    
    Speaker didn’t hesitate in turning around and running down the hall to find him. Baron soon joined her with his own instructions that had him jumping out of the third floor window.
    
    Tyrant hesitated before approaching the bed, not even breathing as she approached the dying woman.
    
    As she neared, she heard a voice, the quietest of whispers. Just barely she was speaking from behind her stitched mouth.
    
    Tyrant leaned down to listen when her head snapped towards hers her impromptu blindfold falling away to reveal the blackest void. She began to sing a dirge despite the ruined throat.
    
    She flinched and stepped away just as Speaker returned in tow with the Doctor and Phoenix carrying the torso of a very fat man.
    
    "Geez, this is worse than I thought," the Doctor said ignoring everything to get to work.
    
    Tyrant looked at her again, blindfold in place just as when they found her.
    
    "We only need her to last long enough to get her in a Monstrance." she said ignoring the chills crawling down her spine.
    
    "That's her then?" Phoenix asked.
    
    Tyrant nodded, turning her attention to the corpse on the floor.
    
    "He told me what happened to her." he said kicking the meat in front of him “before he lost his pieces.”
    
    "He sold her to the Lintha." Speaker said abruptly "the town regularly dealt with them, selling the unwanted of the city in exchange for safety and money."
    
    Speaker picked up the remains of the man by the collar and shook it.
    
    "The city was too clean when we showed up, not a single door or window was smashed open and the only bodies were the ones we were making. Did you have to kill him right away?"
    
    "I got a little mad when I heard what he was doing, she was just stopping by on her trip further north when she found out about it and tried to stop him." Phoenix tossed her a small Soulsteel knife "he had his fun with her before giving her to the Lintha."
    
    Speaker looked at the knife's jeweled handle and the soul trapped within.
    
    "Don't worry though, we aren't done with him just yet."
    
    "Tyrant," the Doctor said getting her attention "it's too much damage, I can't move her all the way back to the Omen before she goes. I’m surprised she lasted as long as she did, she’s tougher than she looks."
    
    Tyrant nodded in agreement, no matter what they looked like now every shard of the Black Exaltation was still at its source a Solar shard. They would accept nothing less than the best from their candidates.
    
    Nor would They who sent her here.
    
    The roar of a First Age engine filled the sky above them as the Omen came crashing in behind them.
    
    "The Omen is already here," she said as the roof was torn away, debris bouncing off a dark shell centered around the Tyrant. Baron wasted no time coming down with the Soulsteel coffin from the ship above them.
    
    "Get her inside."
    
    The four Abyssals snapped at her command, moving her slowly at the Doctor's instructions.
    
    Tyrant watched them lift her into the Monstrance and close it with a bang. Already they could feel the Neverborn's magic at work.
    
    “Is she even going to make it?” Phoenix asked softly stepping away from the menacing coffin.
    
    “I have some spare parts back in the Omen to fix her up with,” Doctor said wiping the sweat off his forehead “she might not like what we have in stock, but she’ll have to deal with it for now.”
    
    “That’s no good Doctor, you have to be kinder to women. Especially pretty women like us.” Speaker said, trying to distract herself from the unease all of them felt being around the Monstrance. 
    
    "I wonder what they'll name her," Baron asked out loud.
    
    Tyrant thought back to her vision, of the black eyes and bleeding midnight sun on her brow.
    
    The Tyrant knew her name.
    
    “Exiled and Betrayed and Defiled. I am Thriced-Cursed. They have named me, Daughter of Despair."


	16. Stalking Hearts


    Five Talents sat lost in thought in the brightly painted tent she had commandeered as her temporary home while back in Tianna. Lying on the floor against the familiar looking totem inside, Five Talents let her mind drift to the children growing inside her and their other mother.
    
    Maybe it was because she wasn’t used to being the one that carried them, but she had found herself thinking about her future children.
    
    Two girls, she made sure of that when Maka was inside her. They would have Maka’s hair and eyes, along with her tribe’s traditional ears and tail. One would have Maka’s beautiful brown skin and the other her own pale white tone.
    
    A pair of cute twins.
    
    Cute.
    
    She had never thought of her kids as cute before.
    
    They were strong, fierce, unstoppable.
    
    They were perfect.
    
    	‘People can lose without being failures, and they can succeed without being perfect.’
    
    Five looked up the totem’s face again, it’s expression carved into a permanent state of orgasmic delight. The same one she had on top of that pile of silver.
    
    “It’s a good carving,” she said out loud.
    
    “Iscariah worked for weeks on it.”
    
    Five looked over to find Tia standing at the entrance of the tent, her blood-red eyes shining bright in the dark tent.
    
    “I spent a lot of time showing her Maka’s face to get it right,” she continued walking in to join her on the floor, her shoes leaving inch deep impressions along the way.
    
    Five Talents rolled over on her back languidly, ignoring the spiderweb cracks on the ground as Tia sat down in front of her.
    
    She didn’t like her being in this tent.
    
    She didn’t like her being in Tianna.
    
    She didn’t like her.
    
    “Hm.” Five hummed in response, idly doodling a picture on the ground with the tip of her tail.
    
    She didn’t give a shit what Tia liked.
    
    They sat together in strained silence for another ten minutes, the only noise the sound of Tia’s fingers digging ten long trenches in the ground.
    
    “Maka liked it.” Five said finally.
    
    It wasn’t a question, she could smell Maka’s lingering scent, she could taste Maka’s sweat in the air. All of it told her how moved Maka was by the gesture.
    
    She could also taste everything that happened afterwards in front of that totem.
    
    “Of course she did.” Tia snorted, “why wouldn’t she.”
    
    “You shared her with everyone.” Five Talents said disdainfully.
    
    In all her dreams, Maka was always chained and locked up in her bedroom. Only for her own use, filling her with kids year round.
    
    Her’s and her’s alone.
    
    “Of course I did.” 
    
    This time it was Tia’s voice that was dripping with undisguised disdain.
    
    “I’m not afraid of losing her.”
    
    The declaration was a challenge, Tia’s blank eyes drilling into her with a familiar madness. She had seen that look in a dozen other Lunars.
    
    Five Talents was growling before she could stop herself.
    
    “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    
    “The only reason people hide things is because they’re afraid they’ll lose it. I’m not afraid of ever losing Maka.” Tia said, unconsciously leaning forward on all fours.
    
    “Maybe you should be,” Five collected herself, her voice taking on a venomous tone “everyday she spends with me is one step closer to making her mine.”
    
    “That’ll never happen,” Tia growled back, smashing the doodle of a mindbroken Maka along with half of the tent floor “No one in the world loves Maka more than I do. Not Amata, not her family, and definitely not you!”
    
    Five looked at her indifferently as Tia’s form hung on the verge of exploding into her warform.
    
    “And what if one day Maka loves me more than you?”
    
    Five Talents already had her essence flowing through her body, ready to rip Tia’s throat out before she could clear the distance between the two of them.
    
    Tia bursting into a fit of giggles was beyond all expectations.
    
    Five Talents clamped down on her own heart to stop herself from flushing in embarrassment.
    
    “You really don’t know Maka at all.” Tia said wiping her tears away, all traces of madness had completely disappeared.
    
    “And what exactly is it I don’t know?” Five Talents asked, not letting a single trace of annoyance or anger seep into her voice.
    
    “Maka doesn’t love anyone more or less than anyone else,” Tia said slowly “she either loves you-”
    
    “Or she doesn’t?” Five Talents cut in, she wasn’t unfamiliar with the mind-set. She had met a few people that claimed the same before she swiftly proved them wrong.
    
    “No,” Tia said, baring her razor sharp teeth “either she loves you or I kill you. Maka would save the whole world if it was up to her, but not everyone is worth saving. She doesn’t know that, but that’s fine, she can save everyone that’s left after I’m done with them.”
    
    “And so?” Talents smiled viciously “are you going to kill me then?”
    
    “No,” Tia smirked in response “Maka is already saving you. You can sleep here, you can have sex with her, you can stay for as long as you want, because Maka is going to make you a better person.”
    
    Five Talents didn’t say anything as Tia got up and walked out of the tent, leaving her to brew in silence.
    
    Five ignored the itching on her back even as she turned to look at the totem behind her. The expression that earlier only looked like Maka’s orgasming face now looked softer, there was an indescribable amount of love in those eyes.
    
    “She’s right you know, not everyone is worth saving,” she mumbled quietly to the totem above her.
    
    Five Talents slept with her back to the totem that night, tail curled around it's length, unwilling to look it in the eyes, but taking comfort in the presence of it.


	17. Larger than Life


    Maka giggled as she indulged herself in something she didn’t get to experience often. Snuggling deeper into the soft fur bedding beneath her, she marveled at the size of her impromptu bed. Spreading her arms as far as they would go to either side of her, she giggled again when she failed to reach either end. Burying her face into the woodsy smelling fur, she stretched out her legs and felt only more fur tickling her toes
    
    Maka giggled again, hugging her bed tighter.
    
    “You know, I’m sure Tia would grow a couple of sizes for you if you asked her,” her bed rumbled beneath her.
    
    “She does that all on her own without asking,” Maka grinned, her voice muffled by Talon’s fluffy neck.
    
    “Then I guess you don’t really need me,” Talon said flatly, sliding his hands down Maka’s side to lift her off of him. He didn’t get her a centimeter off of him before she was holding on to him tighter than ever.
    
    “That’s not true at all,” she pouted, both at his attempt to get her off of him and his nonreaction to her innuendo.
    
    “Are you using charms?”
    
    “Tia prefers to be the little spoon and it’s not like I hate being the big spoon or anything,” she said ignoring his accusations.
    
    Talon sighed, moving his hands from her sides to cup her soft bottom, each cheek filling his warform-sized hands.
    
    “I’m willing to bet Tia wouldn’t mind being the big spoon either,” he said despite his actions “you can ask for things for yourself.”
    
    “I ask for things all the time though?” she said looking at him honestly confused at his statement.
    
    “So what are you doing here with me?” he asked, punctuating his question with a loud spank.
    
    He felt himself stirring beneath her as he reflexively squeezed the other cheek, sinking his hands into her flesh, it’s not like he hated this either.
    
    “I did come to ask you some questions about some fae-related stuff,” she said shivering at the strike “but when I saw you asleep I couldn’t help myself. Like I said, Tia prefers to be the little spoon when we're cuddling so I don’t get the opportunity for this often.”
    
    “What about Amata?”
    
    “She does like taking charge,” she admitted resting her head against Talon’s chest “but it’s different with you.”
    
    Maka giggled as she heard his heart skip a beat.
    
    “You told me a few months ago that you like my body, well I like yours too.” she said, closing her eyes to listen to the soft rumbling of his chest “you’re one of the only people on this island who’s bigger than me you know.”
    
    “I didn’t think you were one to have a complex about your height,” Talon hummed in surprise.
    
    “I don’t,” she denied immediately, shaking her head, “I’m more than happy with how I look and who I am.”
    
    “Then what is it?” he asked.
    
    “How do I put this,” Maka said, pushing herself up to her elbows “I used to do ballet when I was younger, you know. Ballet and basically every other dance you can think of.”
    
    Maka showed off a swan pose, lifting her torso off of Talon’s and lifting one leg almost parallel to her body. Talon hummed in response, taking the opportunity to lift her up into the air with one hand.
    
    “Used to? Why did you stop?” Talon asked, moving her from hand-to-hand, fingertip-to-fingertip.
    
    Maka giggled, going through the motions of a half-remembered routine perfectly.
    
    “This is why,” she smiled “Nowadays even Regis could lift me with one hand, but I hit my growth spurt pretty early.”
    
    Maka shook her hanging breasts in Talon’s face, letting her nipples scrape along his mouth, showing him exactly what grew. Talon tossed her up in the air one last time before catching her and setting her down on top of him again.
    
    “Ballet is something for smaller girls to do because you need to be light enough for your partner to lift and toss you safely. Back then the only person who could that was my age was Karas and he eventually learned to get away from me when I tried to drag him to my lessons. That was the case for a lot of my dance lessons, I didn’t have to give them up like ballet, but more often than not I had to dance the male side.” she continued almost sadly.
    “Don’t get me wrong, I loved all the dancing I did and learned,” Maka said burying her face into his neck again “I love my body, I’m proud of it beyond belief, but being with you than me reminds me of something I’ve missed, something I thought I had lost.”
    
    Talon closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around Maka again as they both fell silent. Taking a deep breath, Talon felt the way Maka was pressed against his body, he was hyper aware of every square inch of skin that was touching him. Hyper aware of the way his own body felt pressed against her.
    
    As if with a featherlight touch Talon brushed against his past memories, the ones he willingly buried so long ago.
    
    Not lost, not thrown out, but forgotten.
    
    With a shuddering sigh, Talon turned away from those thoughts.
    
    Not yet, not today.
    
    A soft kiss to his jaw snapped him out of his dark thoughts. Opening his eyes Talon looked down to Maka wearing an understanding expression.
    
    “You can ask for things for yourself you know,” he repeated softly to her. 
    
    You don’t have to help everyone all the time.
    
    “I ask for things all the time though,” she whispered back.
    
    How can I be happy if someone else isn’t.


	18. Lesson Learned


    A caravan ambushed and it’s magitech cargo was stolen.
    
    A horde of unbound first circle demons running loose across the countryside. 
    
    A militia slaughtered and a town razed to the ground by a rampaging behemoth.
    
    A pair of second circle demons assaulting a fortress.
    
    An army infected by an underworld plague.
    
    A third circle demon summoned while all of his forces were out to lunch.
    
    All at the same time.
    
    “Can’t I have one match where I’m not being shit on?” Karas asked grumpily as he rolled his small pile of d10s and counted up his successes. He was short. Again.
    
    “What’s wrong, can’t handle a little disaster?” asked the god standing across from him.
    
    Zau Rai, God of Strategy and the creator of the foremost tabletop game in all of Creation, removed an unfortunate scale of Tiger Warriors from the board as his custom undead behemoth killed and replaced them with a scale of Elite zombie warriors.
    
    By now Karas knew better than to correct him on his definition of little, instead he used one of his precious essence points to order a fang of Warstriders to intercept the behemoth as a reaction command before it charged into the rest of his unprepared army. Holding his Warstriders back to use against the two Second Circle Demons had seemed like a good idea before it turned out the Behemoth was an infantry killing machine.
    
    So were the demons, but at least they weren’t necroraising his army to use against him.
    
    “I’d just like one match where I’m not fighting an army five times my point total,” he said instead stepping up to take his turn. 
    
    “I shouldn’t have to repeat lessons you’ve already learned,” Zau Rai said watching Karas start to counter his assault “don’t complain just because things are a little unfair.”
    
    Gathering up his army and taking an action to ready them, he set aside a fast attack squad to recover his artillery and put the rest of them in line to take on the demons assaulting his walls. Or at least distract them long enough for him to get his big guns back. That war isn’t fair was one of the first lessons he had learned back in Gem, reinforced now when in his first match against Zau his favored army build faced the entire Balorian Crusade by itself without any warning.
    
    Once again Karas chose not to debate him on his definition of a little.
    
    That still left Karas stuck with a mess to cleanup and two more turns until his Solar General arrived on the field. Finding the section for that in the old first edition rulebook had been a treat. Not only was it significantly more powerful than the homebrew version he had written up, the arsenal and army it could field were leagues ahead of even what the Realm could field in their own versions of Third Edition. It wasn’t enough to win this fight as is, but it was nice to find.
    
    Karas winced as the surrounding towns descended into panic after failing a series of rolls against fear. He couldn’t spend any essence to calm them and still have enough to deal with the remaining threats so he just had to pray they wouldn’t feed themselves to the necromantic grinder.
    
    “It’d make for a nice change of pace,” he said off hand as he glared a hole into the recently placed Third Circle Demon model, he had failed the knowledge roll and would have to fight it without even knowing it’s stat block. 
    
    “Do you really need me to teach you how to win from an advantageous position?” Zau asked, a single eyebrow rising up at him.
    
    Karas pulled back the stealth squad that had failed to stop the summoning instead of answering the question.
    
    “Speaking of lessons, do you want to take another guess?”
    
    This time Karas clicked his tongue at the question. He was nearing the deadline for his last day of training and in that time he had learned a multitude of lessons from his current teacher, but according to him, none of them were The Lesson he was trying to teach him.
    
    “I don’t know, is it that all of this is pointless and I’m going to lose no matter what?” he snapped, throwing his dice harder than was necessary as he rolled for casualties caused by disease.
    
    “No actually,” Zau responded unfazed, removing two fangs worth of Tiger Warriors from the board “that most certainly is not The Lesson.”
    
    Karas sighed and picked up the dice, already regretting his burst of anger. Taking a deep breath, Karas stopped and once again set his brain to work at trying to pick apart his teacher’s words. Thank Sol they weren’t using the Time Attack ruling this match.
    
    “Losing isn’t pointless,” Karas said slowly, shaking the d10s in his hand, he had definitely learned a lot this day and his score sheet still had a big fat zero counting his wins “fighting back matters, even when the odds are against you and losing is inevitable. Especially when it’s inevitable.”
    
    “It’s certainly a lesson to be learned,” Zau nodded at the board, urging Karas to continue his turn “but not The Lesson.”
    
    Karas frowned as he set his bikes to begin scouring the demon infested-field for his missing artillery.
    
    “Although I never once thought your losses were inevitable.”
    
    “You think I can salvage this?” Karas asked in disbelief, waving his hand over the current board state.
    
    “I certainly didn’t set up this match with a hope for your victory,” Zau admitted completely without guilt “but the same has been true for all of our matches and you surprised me quite a few times and came close to winning more times than I expected.”
    
    “I’m guessing the lesson isn’t as simple as Don’t Ever Give Up?” Karas asked, moving his Warstriders to surround the Behemoth and declare the attack.
    
    “That should not be a lesson I need to teach you,” Zau said, watching Karas target his recently converted zombies instead of the larger behemoth. A smart move considering the former Tiger Warriors were armed with Anti-Large weaponry capable of taking on a Behemoth. Or five individually smaller warstriders. The behemoth itself wasn’t very much of a threat to the Warstriders in the first place, it having been built as an anti-infantry weapon.
    
    “Who do you think is allowed to be kind?” Zau asked, removing the scale of zombies from the board and the Behemoth soon after.
    
    “Everyone,” Karas answered with the first thing that came to mind, caught off guard by the non-sequitur “anyone can be kind.”
    
    “Anyone can be kind, but I’m asking who is allowed to be kind.” Zau asked again, beginning his turn as Karas finished his.
    
    Karas stopped himself before he could ask what the difference was. 
    
    Who is allowed to be kind?
    
    Who has permission?
    
    Karas tensed as the Third Circle Demon moved towards his fortress. The tileset changed automatically as the land it passed became corrupted by it’s unholy energies, the previous mob of first circle demons amassing behind it into a single cohesive army.
    
    Who can get away with being kind.
    
    “If someone is kind to everyone all their life, I guarantee that life won’t have lasted very long.” Zau said grimly “someone will inevitably come to take advantage of that kindness.”
    
    “Not everyone is like that,” Karas argued, helpless to stop the demons' advance.
    
    “Certainly not everyone,” Zau agreed “but it only takes one.”
    
    Declaring his action, Zau rolled to begin casting a solar circle sorcery equivalent spell.
    
    “It only takes one moment of bad luck to end someone’s life.” Zau said, casting his spell and wiping the remaining warstriders off the map.
    
    “One terrible moment becomes a lesson for everyone else,” he said rolling again elsewhere on the board, Karas’ own stolen artillery being used to bombard the fortress walls.
    
    “Everyone sees what one moment of kindness does to home and hearth. Kindness has caused them death and destruction on a scale unimaginable, where tyranny and fear would have saved them all.”
    
    “Is that The Lesson then?” Karas asked harshly now, throwing his models off the board as they died to volley after volley of essence artillery, leaving a series of pockmarks as the surprisingly sturdy models impacted the wall “being kind is a weakness?”
    
    “It’s certainly a lesson to be learned,” Zau said, his tone not having shifted a single millimeter “or at least a sort of inevitable truth.”
    
    “Choosing between being kind and being cruel will always leave someone at the mercy of the other,” Zau said, his artillery finally falling silent “who is disadvantaged always depends on your choice.”
    
    “Your kindness will always lead you to destruction.” he said gesturing to the board.
    
    25 hours and all without a single victory to his name. All those matches against truly impossible odds, scenarios of armies stretched gossamer thin, of endless wars and countless allies lost. Each individual match connected to each other in a flash, he could see the links between games as clear as day now. The disparate armies facing impossible odds and reaching the inevitable conclusion.
    
    Karas forced his grip on the table to relax before he broke something, considering the board was made of Orichalcum and Quicksilver it would probably be his fingers that broke first.
    
    “Maka won’t accept it,” he glared into Zau Rai’s softly glowing eyes “I don’t accept it, things will never get this bad.”
    
    “Perhaps you are right,” Zau said ominously “perhaps Thrice-Blessed Maka is not as implacable as rumors say she is. Perhaps, little by little, she will compromise. She will take the lesser option and close her eyes and ears to the suffering in front of her. And ever so slowly, the Hope of Sol Invictus will lose it’s splendor once again.”
    
    Karas couldn’t respond even as the turn passed back to him, anger simmering inside him.
    
    “You never answered my question.” Zau said after a long moment.
    
    It took Karas another moment to remember the exact question.
    
    “With this inevitable truth set before you, Who is allowed to be kind?”
    
    Who can withstand the cruelties of the world?
    
    Who can bring victory against impossible odds?
    
    Who can choose the harder path and come out on top?
    
    Karas straightened his back and met Zau’s eyes once more.
    
    “The Strong.”
    
    Karas placed his Solar general down on the table, Dawn castemark carved beautifully on its forehead.
    
    “The Winners.”
    
    Zau smiled warmly for the first time.
    
    “The Righteous.”


	19. Do it now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one is lewd
    
    
    ‘Lady Maka if I may suggest…’
    
    Taru-Kul had managed to catch the start of her conversation with Millian in time to suggest something else. According to her a public prayer ritual would help with the blessing she wanted Taru to perform.
    
    So with a roll of her eyes, Millian put the bucket down and stayed behind to distract Malachite while she snuck out of the infirmary and made her way down to her chapel.
    
    Pyre was, as always, absolutely on board with the idea. She had managed to make it in time for the last service of the day just as the sun was setting and had Hotau and Ayzir get everything set up.
    
    “It is my honor to announce that Our Divine Maka has come down to share her blessing with us.” Pyre beamed, to the filled out room. Maka waved to the eager and excited crowd from her place on the marble table engraved with her likeness.
    
    It spoke to how lightheaded she was still feeling that she let Pyre take the lead with her cult’s daily prayers and worship. She could even now still hear her tell everyone the good news of her children’s birth and smiled at the cheering and congratulations she received, but all of it went in one ear and out the other.
    
    All she could focus on was the weight on her chest. The sway and bounce of her breasts that normally felt as light as her hair was now a thousand times as heavy. She joked to Amata earlier about attaching a pair of faucets to herself, but she could practically hear the milk inside her sloshing around just waiting to be released.
    
    She came back to reality when a pair of ornate golden gallon-sized pitchers were placed in front of her. Pyre asked her to say a few words to the congregation and she was sure she did speak, but all of her concentration was focused on the two pitchers in front of her and the milk waiting to fill them. 
    
    At some point she had taken off all of her clothes, her ass spared the cold marble with a pile of cushions and silks. Her chest was completely bare to the cult, her hard nipples aching in the warm Fire season air. After what felt like an eternity of talking the time had finally come.
    
    Her entire body shuddered at Pyre’s first gentle touch on her burning hot skin. Pyre whispered something to her as she massaged her heavy jugs, starting at her collarbone and working her way down and around to her nipples. A moan escaped her lips before she could even think to stop it. Goosebumps spread across her skin as she closed her eyes in delight, her chest jutting forward, practically begging Pyre to work her harder.
    
    The aching inside her grew and grew, Pyre’s hands doing their best to cover the mountain of titflesh she had in front of her. To her immense frustration and joy, it was her pussy that started leaking first. Without her realizing it, her fingers had made their way down to her folds, staining the cushions beneath her ass with her juices.
    
    Pyre's hands pick up the pace, moving back and forth between her massive milkers, working both in a steady top to bottom rhythm. Maka could barely make out Pyre's voice over her own room-filling moans, it was the tingling in her head rather than in her chest that told her Pyre was praying to her.
    
    All it took was a single pinch of Pyre’s fingers on her stiff nipples before beads of milk finally made their appearance. 
    
    And like a dam breaking, the aching pressure in her chest burst out all at once. With one long, orgasmic cow-like moan, Maka's vision went white as her breasts released their bounty all over Pyre's hands and face in a near violent torrent. Her pussy followed suit as she came in a much less spectacular fashion, juices staining her legs as her body spasmed in delight.
    
    Pyre didn't stop her ministrations for a second even as another priest moved forward to catch her divine milk in the golden containers she had forgotten about. One was quickly filled and replaced with another, and then another was brought forward as her milk flowed endlessly from her still heavy tits.
    
    Another pair of hands soon joined Pyre's eliciting a soft moo from her lips. The rough hands contrasted well with Pyre's as they tugged and pinched another boobgasm from her chest, the milk not letting up no matter how many gallons she let out.  Soon Maka was bent over on all fours on the table, her ass in the air bouncing back and forth without her realizing it as her priests worked her hanging milk meat like one of Ahlat's sacred cows.
    
    More and more hands joined in as her cult surrounded her in worship. More hands than she had titty, if only barely. Her entire body was soon subject to her cult's adoration, every single inch of her flesh finding someone's roaming hands and fingers.
    
    Maka let out another moan, looking around the room in a haze as she sucked on someone's fingers happily. The walls of her chapel were lined with containers filled to the brim with her milk and still she felt as full as when they started. She had lost count of how many buckets she had filled by now, the cult having long since run out of the ornate jugs and were now using anything they could get their hands on to not waste a single drop.
    
    Despite that, it still came as a surprise when one set of fingers were replaced with a pair of lips. A loud moo escaped her as the mouth eagerly sucked on her hard coin-sized nipples. The people around her redoubled their efforts with another mouth taking her unoccupied breast. In the face of any sort of sense, as if everything before now had just been a trickle, her milk started coming out faster than before. 
    
    Maka was wantonly mooing without restraint now, caring only about the chest orgasm that had taken over her mind. Mouth after mouth taking their fill of her as her cult rushed forward until she was sitting up again to give everyone free access to her heaving chest. 
    
    The first clue that someone was behind her was when his rock hard cock pierced her with a single thrust. Her pussy had gone forgotten so long that that was all it took to force another orgasm out of her hot and drenched folds. A bolt of pure pleasure shot up her spine and seemingly into her breasts, one forceful spurt of milk forced the current mouths on her nipples to let go with a pair of loud pops.
    
    Her chest faucets shot a rain of alabaster treasure into the air over the room to the loud joy of her cult. The creamy rain showering the room as the cultist that held her from behind finished inside her with one final thrust. A different white cream filling her instead of leaving her for the first time that night.
    
    She giggled brainlessly at the thought even as another cultist took his place behind her and pushed into her backdoor. She let out another moan even as more of her cult moved forward, someone she vaguely recognized in her haze stepped forward to steal a kiss from her before giving her nipple a sharp tug.
    
    A loud clattering of newly acquired empty buckets were dropped in front of her before her attention was stolen by a hard dick that had found its way into her open mouth and waiting pussy. Her ivory milk leapt into the air again as all three of her holes were filled.
    
    The sun had dropped below the horizon and her cult's very first White Communion was just starting.


End file.
